A Little Help
by Sinister Slayer
Summary: This story takes place after the episode Checkpoint of season 5 of Buffy. After finding out that Glory is a God, Giles realizes that whether Buffy is willing to admit it or not, she's going to need some help. The best he can think of is in the form of a certain second slayer who currently resides in a South California correctional facility for women.
1. You're Needed

**A Little Help**

 **Summary** : This story takes place after the episode Checkpoint of season 5 of Buffy. After finding out that Glory is a God, Giles realizes that whether Buffy is willing to admit it or not, she's going to need some help. The best he can think of is in the form of a certain second slayer who currently resides in a South California correctional facility for women. This is a Fuffy story.

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own any of these characters, nor do I own the general story arch for season 5, nor do I intend to make a profit from either one.

 **Feedback** : Pretty pretty please! Good or bad reviews…doesn't matter…just give me something so I know how I'm doing.

 **Note:** I usually find stories that go right along with the canon of the series to be slightly boring since we've already seen what happened in the series and I love originality. However, I got the idea for this story while rewatching the fifth season and thinking about how things could have gone differently (but still pretty much the same arch-wise) if Faith were around. With that said, some of the stuff will still happen that happened in season 5. Some things will be the same, but done differently, but most things will be new, and completely different. I hope you all enjoy the story!

 **You're Needed**

When he first showed up, she wasn't sure what to think. He'd visited her before, but it had been a while, and he usually called first. He had always been very proper in that sense. That's why this worried her. He hadn't called, and she knew that meant something must be wrong.

She tried to read the expression on his face as she sat down across from him behind the thick glass. There was no sorrow in his eyes. That was a good sign at least. It most likely meant that none of the people she had once called her friends were dead. She was relieved at the thought.

A small half smile appeared on her face as the relief went through her and she realized just how much she'd grown and changed. Just a year ago she wouldn't have cared the slightest bit about the wellbeing of any of them. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She would have cared if it was a certain blonde slayer, but that was a different story entirely.

The brunette slowly picked up the phone, focused her gaze on the older man in front of her, and placed the receiver to her ear.

"Hello, Faith," the man greeted with a slightly forced smile.

Faith leaned back in her chair somewhat, making herself more comfortable. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She never was much for exchanging pleasantries. She liked to get straight to the point and figure out what was going on. Faith had a feeling that this wasn't just an ordinary visit. Her former temporary watcher had something on his mind and the brunette was all too interested in finding out what it was.

Not much excitement occurred in prison. Aside from the occasional brawl and sometimes attempted murder, a few of the times on her own life, prison life was fairly boring. She thought about the gang in good old Sunnydale a lot. Believe it or not, she actually enjoyed getting the scoop on what they were up to every now and then.

"I'm afraid this isn't going to be quite like my usual visits," Giles began to explain.

Faith shrugged her shoulders. "I sorta figured as much," she responded. "Is everyone alright?" she asked trying to sound as casual as possible. She couldn't let Giles know that she actually cared. That would completely throw off her bad girl image. "None of the Scoobs kicked the bucket or anything? B's five by five?" she added, again trying to sound casual.

Giles quickly shook his head. "Oh…no…everyone is alright. Buffy is fine. The others are all healthy as well."

Relief once again managed to sneak through Faith's body. She quickly brushed that off, however, and nodded her head nonchalantly. "Good to hear."

"No, thankfully it's nothing like that," the watcher added with a small smile.

Faith nodded her head in return. "So what's the sitch then, G?" she asked, once again getting back to business. "If your not here for a routine visit, and B and the slayerettes are all good, then what's the deal?"

"A new evil power has arisen in Sunnydale," Giles responded, getting straight to the point, "an extremely powerful being."

The brunette looked back at him with confusion. She didn't quite understand why the watcher was coming to her and telling her all of this. "Sounds like a regular day in Sunnyhell. So why come here to tell me?" she asked, eyebrows knitted together. "You guys handle new badies all the time."

"I'm afraid this one is unlike any other we have ever faced," the watcher responded. "We are dealing with power that far exceeds that of any other being that walks this earth. I don't…" he paused for a moment as if what he was about to say would be difficult to get out. "I don't think that Buffy can face this one alone. She's going to need help."

Faith was pretty sure that she knew exactly where Giles was going with this, but she needed to hear it straight from the horse's mouth before fully believing it. She leaned forward and placed her free arm on the counter as she looked questioningly at the watcher. "What are you tryin to say, G-man?"

Giles sighed briefly before responding. "Buffy isn't going to be able to do this one alone. She's going to need your help, Faith."

The slayer once again leaned back in her chair upon hearing the watcher's words. She smiled and almost laughed at the request.

"Umm…" she started to say but then realized that she had no words in mind that were ready to come out. Luckily it didn't take her too long to find them. "Why me?" she asked. "I mean…there is sort of this little complication of me being incarcerated and all."

"That's being handled," the former librarian responded. "And it has to be you, Faith, because there's no one else. You're a slayer and your power is needed."

Faith dropped her head slightly. She knew that they would never need her. Her power was the only thing they'd ever need and even that she was sure they could do without.

"So why not get Angel?" the slayer asked. "He's probably got just as much power as me, maybe even more. Why not have him help out B?"

Giles raised his eyebrows. "From what I hear, he has enough of his own problems to deal with."

The dark haired slayer nodded her head in understanding. She knew he was right so there was no use trying to refute it.

For a moment neither one said a word. Giles waited patiently as he allowed Faith to retain the information he had just given her, and to decide what to do with it.

There were more thoughts going through the brunette's mind then she could sort out at the moment. Giles was asking her to leave prison, and go back to Sunnydale with him to help out Buffy. She had a million questions running through her mind about this situation.

Did Buffy ask for Giles to get Faith out? Did Buffy even know that Giles was doing this? What kind of big, bad evil were they dealing with? How the heck was he going to get her out of jail if she did agree to this? Did this mean that he trusted her, or was he just that desperate for help?

She wasn't really one for asking questions though. She wasn't aware of the situation in Sunnydale, she didn't know if Buffy knew what Giles was asking her, all she knew was that she was needed. Buffy needed her help, and this time she made up her mind that she was going to be there for her. This time, she wasn't going to let Buffy down.

After the brief moment of silence, Faith sat up straight in her chair and looked Giles straight in his eyes.

"Alright," she said softly, "I'm in. How do we get me outta here?"

A small smile appeared on the watchers face as he nodded his head.

"We've been working with the council again recently," Giles responded. "Buffy made it perfectly clear to them that she is the one in charge and they will be helping her, not the other way around."

Faith saw a very proud smile on the watcher's face as he explained this to her. She couldn't help but smile herself at the thought of Buffy showing that Quentin Travers guy who wears the pants in the slayer/council relationship.

"They've agreed to use their connections to have you released," Giles continued. "They refused to inform me on the full details of your discharge but they have assured me that the next five hours will be your last in prison."

For a moment Faith's breath was caught in her throat. For a girl like her, prison wasn't so bad because she knew how to handle herself, but there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't dream about being back out there in the real world. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't wish to go back in time and change her current fate.

Although she knew that she could never turn back the clock, Giles was offering her a second chance. A second chance to do what's right for a change. A chance to make amends.

Of course, Faith did wonder what strings would be attached to this little deal. She knew that the council was anything but trustworthy, and they would certainly have a catch involved. The most obvious, and likely, catch was that once her help was no longer needed she would return back to prison where everyone felt she belonged. There was also the possibility that the council would deal with her in their own way once her services in Sunnydale were complete.

Whatever the catch was, Faith didn't really care. Right now she was wasting her life, and her power, here in prison. At least out in the real world she would have a chance to do some good, if only for a little while. Worst came to worst, she wouldn't make it through the coming fight and then at least another slayer would be called, one that could help B instead of rotting away in prison. Instead of hurting her like Faith had.

As nervous as she was about what was to come, how the others would react, and where all of this would take her, she knew that she had to do what was right.

She looked at the watcher with a seriousness in her eyes that no one who had ever come into contact with her was used to seeing.

"Well then, I guess I better start packin."


	2. Unwelcome Back

**Unwelcome Back**

She knew exactly what to expect even before she walked through the door. Anger would be the biggest one, but there would also be disappointment, loathing, and of course disgust. She knew that there wasn't going to be one person in that shop that would be even remotely happy to see her.

That fact didn't really bother her though. Sure, it would make it a little difficult for her to help people that despised her, but that was just the price that she would have to pay. After all she'd done, she knew that she didn't deserve to be liked by these people.

After taking a deep breath, the dark haired slayer nodded to the watcher standing before her, indicating that she was ready to go in. He nodded his head in return and began to walk into The Magic Box with Faith fallowing behind him.

Upon walking into the shop, Faith could hear the happy voices of Willow, Xander and two other women that seemed slightly familiar, but she couldn't remember their names. Luckily, she hadn't yet heard the voice of the person she was least looking forward to seeing, and at the same time most looking forward to seeing.

The happy voices and laughter seemed to stop immediately as soon as the former rouge slayer stepped into their view. Most of them looked worried, but the red headed witch just looked pissed off. Faith was pretty sure that she could even see smoke coming out of Willow's ears.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Willow asked with a stern look, never taking her eyes off of Faith. Faith could see how much Willow had changed over the time she'd been gone. She was powerful. It was visible in her newfound confidence and assertiveness.

Faith simply raised her eyebrows, tilted her head and smiled. "It's nice to see you too, Red." As powerful as Willow had become, Faith was never one to back down and cower. Some things would never change.

Giles rolled his eyes in annoyance. It was clear that he knew he was going to have to explain all of this with everyone, and it was already getting on his nerves. "I explained to you all that I was going to find us some help, Willow."

"We don't need help from her," Xander chimed in with revulsion in his tone.

"Aww…I missed you too, Xand," the slayer said with another emotionless smile.

"Umm…does Buffy know that she's supposed to be here?" one of the other women asked, as she looked back and forth between Willow, Xander, Giles and the newly arrived slayer.

The former librarian removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to inform her now, Anya," he responded softly.

After a few eye rolls and some sighs from the group, Giles started walking towards the door of the training room. He turned around to face Faith before opening the door. "I'll be back in a moment."

Faith nodded her head. "It's cool, I'm alright out here." The watcher sent her back a small smile and then entered the training room.

All eyes were on Faith as they waited for Giles to come back out. She sighed as she tried to think of something that she could say to possibly break the ice in the room, but the only thing she could currently think of was what type of amphibian the red head would probably turn her into if it weren't for Giles.

* * *

The more she thought about what the council had told her about Glory, the harder and faster her punches became, as her fists hit the bag. As if things in her life weren't bad enough. Her mom had just gone through surgery to remove a tumor, she found out her sister wasn't really her sister, but a key of some kind that Glory wanted, and her boyfriend left her after she found out he had a vampire fetish of the extremely unhealthy kind.

It was true. The life of Buffy Summers wasn't a pleasant one at the moment and things only seemed to be getting worse.

This was the only place that she could go to get out some of her frustrations. In the training room at The Magic Box there was only her and the punching bag, its soul purpose to be the object of everything in her life that she couldn't fight, but that she desperately wished she could.

Her facial expression was hard as stone as she continued to send swift, rapid blows to the maroon bag, her mind racing with the events of the past few months. The one thing that she kept telling herself over and over again in her mind was that, 'things couldn't possibly get any worse.'

But as the door to the training room opened, the blonde slayer would soon learn that this wasn't the case.

As Giles entered the training room, Buffy slowed her punches slightly, but didn't completely let up on the bag. Her newly reinstated watcher had informed her that he was leaving town to check up on some possible backup for the slayer, but he refused to give her any details on where he was going, or who he was going to see. It was safe to say that this ticked her off a little.

Naturally her first guess was Angel. Before Giles left, the slayer assured him that it wasn't necessary to ask for Angel's help. The watcher then assured her that Angel wasn't the help that he had in mind, and that he just felt it would be better to be sure that he could get this person's help before he mentioned any names.

Of course Buffy had eventually given in, but that didn't stop her from being somewhat anxious and annoyed. She wasn't even quite ready to admit that she needed any outside help in the first place, let alone have that help be from an unknown source.

"Buffy," the watcher greeted casually.

At the sound of his voice the slayer secede her assault on the punching back and turned towards him in an attempt to read his expression. He seemed pleased with himself, which told her that his source most likely came through for him, but there was also something else in his expression.

He was fairly good at hiding his emotions when he really tried, but Buffy had been around him long enough to learn how to see through it. Right now she was seeing that she was most likely not going to be happy with what he was about to tell her.

"You're back," the blonde stated. "Did yah come back with a friend?"

Giles smiled slightly at the slayer's attempt at not sounding bitter. He then nodded his head in response.

Buffy looked to the left of the watcher and then to the right as if she was looking for something. "Well?" she asked in anticipation. "Where is he?"

Giles removed his glasses and began cleaning them with his handkerchief. "And what makes you so sure the help I have enlisted is a 'he?'"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders and responded, "Well you know me, I'm all about girl power, but the only woman that could really be powerful enough to help would be a witch or a slayer. Willow is really all the witch we need and the only other slayer besides me is…"

Her face began to turn white when she saw the look on Giles' face as she was about to mention the rouge slayer's name. The shock quickly wore off and her face hardened. She immediately brushed passed the former librarian towards the door.

For a moment Giles looked slightly ashamed of himself for not telling her sooner, but he seemed to quickly get over that as it must have dawned on him just what Buffy might do. "Now hold on just a minute," he called after her as she breezed passed him.

Fuming, the blonde slayer marched into the main room of The Magic Box where she found Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara and Faith uncomfortably standing around with tension boiling in the air around them.

* * *

Faith instantly smiled at the sight of Buffy, despite the fact that the smile was definitely not being returned. To the casual observer it was Faith's usual smug smile that was part of her everyday façade, part of who she was, how she worked. This was exactly what she wanted people to think, but it wasn't real.

The truth was that Faith really couldn't help but smile when she saw her fellow slayer. It had always been that way. To her, it was a bad habit that she was clearly still suffering with.

"Hey, Girlfriend. Long time no see," the brunette said almost cheerily. "Did yah miss me?" she added as she spread her arms out almost as if she were expecting a hug.

Instead of a hug, the dark haired slayer received a hard right hook to her jaw. Her face flew to the right from the force of the punch. She closed her eyes for a moment and gritted her teeth from the stinging pain that shot threw her left cheek. Slayer or not, it was a hard hit.

She gently brought her right hand up to the corner of her lip to whip away the small trickle of blood that was threatening to fall from her mouth. She briefly looked at the red substance on her hand and then stood up straight to face her fellow slayer.

"I'm gonna take that as a no," she responded with a small half smile, not yet ready to give up her casual demeanor.

"Get the hell out of here," Buffy responded smoothly, but with an angered ton.

It was now Giles' turn to intervene, as he walked up to the two slayers and positioned himself between them. "That's enough, Buffy!" he ordered sternly. He stared the blonde slayer down trying desperately to hold onto his authority.

"It's cool, Giles," Faith responded in hopes to avoid a power struggle between the watcher and his slayer. "I think I pretty much had that coming."

"How dare you," Buffy challenged her watcher. "So this is why you wouldn't tell me who you were bringing to help me? Because you knew that hell would freeze over before I would ever let her come back here!" The last thing she said wasn't a question. She meant every word.

"She's here to help, Buffy," Giles countered, keeping his voice steady as he began to relax. It was clear that he didn't want to fight with his slayer, but he still wanted to get his point across.

The blonde slayer nearly burst out laughing at the thought. "Faith doesn't care about anyone but herself," she responded as if the other slayer wasn't even standing right there within listening distance. "And even that's debatable," she added as she shot the dark slayer a disgusted glance.

Faith lowered her head as she tried not to show how much Buffy's words cut like a knife. They were a hundred percent true, and that's why it hurt so much to hear. The dark slayer had always looked out for number one since she was little. It was what she had to do to survive before becoming a slayer, and after becoming a slayer that way of life had already become instinctual.

However, for someone who only cared about herself she had never shown much self-care. It was hard to care about herself when she was such a screw up. She had always believed that she was a lost cause, until someone came along to show her she was wrong. Angel had been the one and only person in the whole world who believed she could change, that she could make a difference, and she wasn't going to let him down.

"She has made great progress in the past year, Buffy," Giles tried to reason. "She wants to help."

"Progress?" the blonde snapped. "She's been in prison for the past year, Giles. How could she have possibly made progress? And how would you even know if she had?"

"A lot can happen in a year," the watcher responded. "I've noticed an extreme change in her mood, demeanor, and her overall personality during our sessions."

The blonde slayer looked like she was about to contradict the watcher's statement, until his words began to sink in. Faith knew exactly what was going on here. Giles hadn't told Buffy about his visits to the Women's Correctional Facility of Southern California.

"Sessions?" Buffy asked as her temper began to rise even further.

Giles let out a small sigh and removed his glasses from his face. "I thought it would be best that you didn't know. I've been visiting with Faith every so often since she was placed in prison."

Buffy was speechless. She simply shook her head and sent a very disappointing look the watcher's way.

As Faith glanced around the room to the other occupants, Willow's facial expression caught her eye. It was a look of realization. "That's where you've really been going all those times you told us you were going to England? You lied to us?" the red head asked sadly.

"Now wait just a moment," Giles corrected. "I did go to England, every time I said I had. I did not lie about that. I just left out the fact that I would visit Faith before my flight would leave from Los Angeles. I knew that none of you would approve."

"You got that right," Xander replied flatly.

Giles sent a sidelong glance Xander's way but then immediately brought his attentions back to Buffy. "Whether you're willing to admit it or not," he began softly, "you're going to need help facing Glory."

Buffy looked her watcher straight in the eyes and held his gaze without saying a word. For a moment there, it looked as if the two were having a mental conversation with one another. They weren't verbally communicating, but they were both getting their points across through their body language and eye contact.

"I promise you," Giles reasoned softly, "Faith is different now, and she will help us."

As hard as it was to believe, the blonde slayer's expression began to soften and her temper began to calm. As angry as she seemed about having her former enemy back in her town, it appeared that she was possibly going to give her a chance, for Giles' sake at least. No matter how much she disagreed with him at times, she clearly trusted and respected him.

"Alright," Buffy finally gave in, "She can stay, but the second the old Faith presents herself, she goes straight back to prison."

"I won't screw up again, B," Faith said as she finally decided to join the conversation that revolved around her. "I'm here to help."

The older slayer turned towards her counterpart. For a moment their eyes locked in a silent challenge, or possibly a silent understanding, Faith wasn't really sure. When the eye contact broke, Buffy hadn't said a word. She simply looked around at the rest of her friends and then began walking towards the exit of The Magic Box.

She turned back around before walking out the door. "I have to get home. We'll meet back here later to discuss Glory?" she asked her friends.

They all nodded their heads in agreement. "We'll be here," Giles answered.

And with one last nod of her head, the blonde slayer walked out of the shop.

With Buffy gone, the others fell into silence for a few moments. They all looked slightly uneasy and in need of a tension breaker.

"Well," Faith said, effectively ending the uncomfortable silence, "I think that went well."


	3. Working Together

_Note: Thank you to everyone who's been reviewing, and a special thanks to the person who reviewed Slayers, The Chosen Two and told me how to do the page break. Much appreciated! :-)_

 **Working Together**

After the little 'welcome back' party at The Magic Box, Faith and Giles went back to his place to get the newly returned slayer situated. The temporary arrangement was that Faith would crash on Giles' couch until they could think of something better, which Faith didn't really mind at all. All she cared about was that for the first time in a year she would be able to shower in a real shower without the presence of several other women. For now, Giles' place was like heaven.

For the most part, Faith felt that things had gone pretty well with the Scoobies. She had actually been expecting a lot more than some harsh words and a right hook to the jaw when finally coming back to Sunnydale. Although, she did still have Dawn to look forward to.

The whole situation with Dawn was actually a strange circumstance to grasp. Giles had filled her in on pretty much everything that had happened during the time she'd missed in good old Sunnyhell.

He'd told her about Glory, the new big bad, and all of the information they had on her as of late. He also filled her in on the whole 'Dawn is actually a mystical ball of energy' thing. It was a lot to absorb in such a short amount of time, but she understood the basic gist of things.

It was all a little strange to think about though. She had very vivid memories of Buffy's younger sister being in the picture ever since she'd first gone to the blonde slayer's house to meet the family. She remembered how annoying the little brat always was, how she looked up to her and always wanted to hang out with her and Buffy.

Dawn was extremely annoying back then, but the way Giles told the story it seemed that she and Buffy had bonded a little more. He told her how much Buffy still cared about the young girl even after finding out that she wasn't even a real person, let alone her real sister. He also made sure to tell her about a million times that Dawn had no idea what she was, and that it was imperative that she not find out.

That part would be easy. If there was anything Faith was good at, it was lying and keeping secrets. If the little brat ever did find out what she was, it wouldn't be through Faith.

Things certainly were different since the slayer had been away. Buffy had even seemed to mature quite a bit. Although she did put up a good fight to try and send Faith packing again, she'd actually agreed to let her stay long before Faith thought she would.

It was a small fact that seemed to shed the slightest bit of hope into such a crappy situation. Maybe Buffy had finally become less stubborn, and a little more trusting. Faith could only hope, because this time she was determined not to betray that trust.

* * *

Giles and Faith were the last of the group to assemble at The Magic Box for the meeting. As the dark slayer walked through the entrance behind her former watcher she took a deep breath to prepare for whatever the Scoobies might throw at her next. It was only her first day back and she knew that she should expect nothing less then being greeted with disdain, or possibly just being completely ignored. Either way she knew that this would last a while, and was preparing for the long haul.

As she walked into the shop she spotted Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara seated at the large table while Buffy stood between them and the counter with her arms crossed over her chest, and a scowl on her face. Faith could tell that this was going to be a long night. She decided to hang back a little, leaning against a support beam, and simply waited for instructions.

"Sorry if we're a little late," Giles apologized, breaking the silence that had filled the room the moment the pair entered.

"You're right on time," Buffy responded emotionlessly. "We were just discussing how to move forward with the whole Glory situation."

"I suggested research now that we have something to go on," Willow offered as she too tried to remain emotionless.

"And I suggested to veto Willow's suggestion," Xander added sarcastically.

Anya, Tara and Faith smiled at Xander's attempt to be funny, but the other three occupants of the room didn't seem to welcome the attempt at lightening the mood.

"I know how much you dislike research, Xander, but I do believe Willow is right," the watcher replied. "Before the council's involvement we knew nearly nothing about Glory. Now that we have more leads on her I believe we need to follow them, and learn all we can about her and what she plans to do when she gets a hold of the key."

"Right," Xander sighed with disappointment, "Research it is then."

As the four seated at the table began rummaging through some books that were already scattered on the table, Buffy approached Giles.

"I'm going to go out and patrol," she explained to her watcher, "Hit a few hot spots and see if I can't find any local demons that I can beat some information out of."

Faith smirked slightly as she thought about what she was sure was the main reason that Buffy needed to find something to hit. As hard as she seemed to be trying to appear as if she wasn't bothered by the younger slayer's presence, it was written all over her face just how angry she really was.

As Buffy began walking towards the exit, Giles stopped her. "Buffy," he called to her as he slowly turned in her direction to face her. "Faith should go with you. She's a slayer too and she's here to help. We should put that help to good use."

Seeing the look on Buffy's face made Faith realize that going patrolling with Buffy wasn't such a good idea just yet. "Look, G, I'm really not good with the whole researching thing, but it seems like you guys might need me more here," she attempted to reason.

The other slayer didn't speak, but her expression said the unspoken words for her. She completely agreed with what Faith had said. She would agree with anything that anyone said as long as it meant she wouldn't have to spend time with Faith.

Giles, on the other hand, seemed to disagree. "I appreciate your offer, Faith, but I believe you'll be more useful to us out in the field. Stick with Buffy. Hopefully the two of you will find something helpful."

"I can cover more ground by myself, Giles, and if I need any help I can get Spike," Buffy said, and as much as it seemed to pain her to say, she also added, "Faith is right. She should stay here and help you guys with the research."

The watcher removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, Buffy, I realize that you have no desire to work with Faith, but sooner or later you're going to have to. The sooner the two of you learn to get along and work together, the better prepared we will be when it comes time to face Glory."

Faith had to admit, the watcher was good. He had a way with getting his point across and making a very good argument in his favor. He was right. As much as Faith wanted to put all of this off, the sooner she and her fellow slayer mended their relationship the better off things would be in the long run.

It was clear that Buffy was coming to the same realization. With a roll of her eyes, her resolve seemed to be weakening. "Alright," the blonde replied, "We'll make a sweep and check some demon dives, see what we can scrounge up."

The left side of the watcher's mouth perked up slightly in a satisfied half smile. "Thank you," he replied.

With that settled, Buffy began to walk towards the exit, not bothering to wait for Faith.

Faith rolled her eyes and sent Giles a sidelong glance. She stood up straight as she heard the door open and then close. With a forced smile she nodded to the former librarian. "This is going to be the best date I've ever been on," she joked.

As the slayer turned to leave, Giles smiled and ran along with the joke. "Don't have her out too late," he yelled to Faith as she walked towards the door.

Faith laughed at Giles' twisted sense of humor. "I'm sure I'll have her back before midnight, Pops," she shot over her shoulder. Then she stopped at the door and turned back towards Giles. "In fact, if I don't, send out a search party 'cause odds are, we're tearin each other apart," she added with a smirk.

The last thing Faith saw before closing the door was a small smile from Giles.

* * *

It didn't take long for Faith to catch up to Buffy after leaving The Magic Box. The blonde slayer was completely annoyed as her younger counterpart silently followed behind her. She couldn't believe that Giles would make her spend alone time with Faith this soon.

The now ex-convict had just arrived in Sunnydale that day and the old watcher was already forcing them to work together. After everything that she'd done just two years earlier, and even just one year earlier, he expected them to simply work together again as if nothing had ever happened.

Giles said that the rogue slayer had changed, but Buffy knew that a complete transition couldn't have happened that quickly. She had only been in prison for a year, and a change from evil to good didn't just happen in that short amount of time. Buffy was convinced of that. She couldn't trust Faith now, and she was positive that she never would be able to in the future either.

She decided that she would go along with this for now, for Giles' sake, but that didn't mean that she was going to have to trust the younger slayer. She would work with her, but she would be on her guard at all times, constantly watching her back.

Silence continued to envelop them as the two slayers walked the dark town, and there was no way that Buffy was going to strike up a conversation just to change that. She would be perfectly happy if neither said a word to each other for the whole night. Unfortunately for her, Faith seemed to have other plans.

"So," the younger slayer began, "Seems like the Scoobs are all doing well."

The blonde slayer rolled her eyes in annoyance. It was clear that Faith was simply trying to break the silence and lighten the mood. Either that or she was actually trying to once again start a friendship with her. Whichever it was, Buffy didn't care.

Buffy stopped short on the dark street and turned with an irritated look in her eyes. "Look, Faith," she started, "I get that you're trying to break the silence, or trying to break the ice between us or whatever, but just save it, ok? Giles brought you here because he thinks you can help, and who knows, maybe you can, but that doesn't mean that you and I are going to be friends. You threw that away a long time ago."

Turning back around, the older slayer continued to walk in the direction she was previously walking in, without even assessing Faith's reaction, or what she might say in return. She knew it was a cold thing to say and do, but she honestly felt that the dark slayer deserved nothing better.

"Look, B, I'm tryin here," Faith began as she walked after her counterpart. "I know you don't want me here, and I completely understand why. But I'm not goin anywhere, so I think we should at least pretend to get along."

An amused smile appeared on Buffy's face as she, once again, turned to face the other slayer. She fought back a burst of laughter as she responded, "Get along? Did you not hear a word that I just said?" Her tone was now changing from amusement to anger. "We are never going to get along, Faith. What you've done to me in the not so distant past is completely unforgivable."

"I'm not asking for forgiveness," Faith quickly shot back before allowing Buffy to continue. "I don't expect you to forgive me, B. I don't deserve forgiveness. You think I don't know that?" She paused for a moment and maintained eye contact with Buffy, emphasizing her words. "You think I don't know how much I hurt you? How much I hurt all of you?"

The blonde stood silent for a moment. She was expecting Faith to defend herself. She even wouldn't have been surprised if the woman apologized, and dropped to her knees begging for forgiveness. What she hadn't been expecting was this. She wasn't expecting Faith to agree with her.

"There is nothing that I can say or do that could ever make up for what I did to you," Faith continued. "I'm not askin to be your friend, B. But if we're gonna have to work together then we're gonna have to develop some kind of a relationship. I'm not expectin that relationship to be a friendship, but it has to be somethin, or I'm not gonna be able to help you."

"I didn't ask for your help," Buffy shot back sharply. She didn't need help from someone who had made her life a living hell.

Now Faith seemed to be getting agitated. "I don't give a shit, B," she returned the verbal blow, to Buffy's surprise. "I know you didn't ask for my help, but you're gettin it whether you like it or not, so deal with it."

Buffy childishly rolled her eyes, not wanting to listen to a word that came out of Faith's mouth. She didn't like being told what to do. Especially not from Faith.

The younger slayer moved in closer to Buffy, boldly invading her personal space. "Let's just get this over with so we can get back to what's really important here, ok?"

Knowing exactly what Faith was talking about, Buffy stood her ground and crossed her arms over her chest. "We don't have time for this. I am not going to fight you."

Buffy turned away from her, and once again continued to walk the dark streets of Sunnydale towards the nearest cemetery. She didn't get far, however, because Faith took it upon herself to keep pushing. She jumped in front of Buffy, once again getting in her face.

"No, I think this is the only moment that we do have time for this, B," Faith pushed. "We can't work together until you get this out of your system. So come on…hit me," she said as she stood back a little and stretched her arms out to each side, opening herself up to an attack.

As tempting as it was to take her up on her offer, Buffy didn't want to stoop to Faith's level. They had more important things to deal with at the moment. She simply glared at the other slayer and shook her head. "No, we're not doing this."

"Come on, B," Faith continued. "Do what you've been wantin to do for over a year now." She walked a little closer to Buffy again as she continued. "You've been wanting to kick my ass for a long time now."

Buffy continued to stand her ground and shake her head, trying her hardest not to lose control and let the manipulative slayer get to her. She attempted to move past Faith to keep walking, but the taller slayer moved along with her in order to stay in front of her.

Faith moved in even closer to Buffy. She leaned in to her right ear with a sinister smile on her face, and continued her verbal assault with a whisper. "You've wanted to wreck me ever since I took your body and fucked your boyfriend like he'd never been fucked before."

And that was all it took to set her off. As soon as the words left Faith's mouth, Buffy sent a powerful blow to her left cheek, which seemed to be getting a lot of action that day.

The hit caused Faith to fly back slightly, but when she regained her footing she simply smiled at the infuriated blonde. "There's the Buffy Summers we all know and love. Now come on, what else you got?" she continued to taunt.

With rage in her eyes, Buffy began to unleash all of her pent up anger on the younger woman. She followed up her first punch with a winding backhand to Faith's other cheek, sending her spinning. She then continued with a hard side kick to her stomach, sending her flying backwards into a street light pole.

As Buffy walked towards Faith to continue taking out her anger on her, Faith steadied herself in preparation for what might be coming next. Rage still boiling, all rational thoughts had completely vacated Buffy's mind.

In one swift motion, Buffy effortlessly sent a spinning roundhouse kick Faith's way, which connected perfectly with her jaw. As Faith spun with the force of the hit she was greeted with several hard punches to her gut as soon as she was face to face with Buffy again.

When the hitting slowed, Faith's hands wrapped around her ribs. After a brief moment, the taller woman stood up straight again, clearly attempting not to show any weakness.

Just as Buffy was about to continue her attack, she stopped herself, allowing her brain to finally catch up with her actions. Breathing heavily from the anger and adrenaline, she took a moment to look at the woman standing in front of her. In all of her fury she had failed to realize something. Faith wasn't fighting back.

When Faith was pushing them to get into this, Buffy was expecting the heated fights that they used to have. She was expecting them to go blow for blow, fighting in a useless battle that ultimately neither one of them would come out on top of. That was the way she wanted it.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Buffy pushed angrily. When she didn't receive a response she closed in on the younger slayer, looked her in her eyes for a short moment and then sent her another bone crunching right hook that sent Faith stumbling to the side. "Fight back!" the blonde yelled.

As Faith attempted to steady herself she slowly shook her head as she spit out a mouth full of blood. "I can't," she responded.

This just made Buffy's fury grow. She hated that Faith wouldn't fight back, and that she knew the reason why. She hated that this was the dark slayer's way of showing her that she really had changed. She hated the immense confusion that was clouding her mind about the beaten woman standing in front of her. Hating Faith was easy, but accepting that she'd changed and that she really was there to help seemed impossible.

Buffy clenched her fists tightly at her sides as she tried to get her temper under control. She took in the sight of the beaten slayer once again. Faith seemed to be in too much pain to even stand up straight. Bruises were already appearing on her face, and a small trickle of blood was flowing out of the corner of her mouth.

The blonde slayer knew that Faith would be alright, the slayer healing would do its job in no time, but for a moment she couldn't help but hate herself for what she'd done. But it didn't take long for that hate to be placed in a different direction. She hated Faith for making her do what she'd just done, for pushing her over the edge.

When Faith seemed to realize that Buffy was done with her assault, she slowly sat down on the street curb. "Feel a little better now?" she asked with a small smile.

Buffy didn't find it funny. None of this was funny. "Why did you do that?" she asked softly, but with conviction in her tone. "Why did you have to push me like that? I told you I didn't want to fight you."

Faith's eyes fell to the ground. "I know," she responded softly. "I'm sorry, but I didn't think that we would be able to work together until you took out your frustrations on me."

As convincing as Faith usually was, Buffy wasn't buying it. She could see right threw the dark slayer's facade. As much as she hated it, she was finally seeing that Faith really had changed. She knew the real reason why Faith had pushed her to her breaking point.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Buffy shook her head at Faith's response. "No," she replied flatly. "That's not why you did it."

Faith rolled her eyes and glanced in Buffy's direction. "Sure, B," she said emotionlessly. "Please, enlighten me then. Why else would I let you beat the crap outta me?" she asked as her eyes once again fell to the ground, still unable to look Buffy in the eyes.

"You did it for you, Faith," Buffy answered calmly.

This seemed to really catch Faith's attention. Her head shot up in Buffy's direction with a slightly hurt, and even more so confused, look on her face.

"Maybe I was wrong, Faith," Buffy began to explain with seriousness. "Maybe a part of you really has changed, because you didn't provoke me into beating the shit out of you just to help our relationship. You did it to punish yourself. You did it because you feel like you deserved it." Buffy knew Faith better than she wanted to admit. "But most of all…you did it to make yourself feel better."

The ex-convict turned away from the blonde slayer with a look on her face that could only be described as disappointment. It was clear to Buffy that she was getting to Faith.

"What? You're not going to even try and debate me on this?" she asked with surprise in her tone. She took the other slayer's silence as a 'no.' "Wow, you really have changed," she added.

Faith didn't say a word in response. Buffy could tell that the dark slayer knew that she was right. She had nothing to say because she knew that everything she was hearing was true.

"You're never going to be able to help us if all you care about is punishing yourself for what you've done," Buffy continued. "I mean don't get me wrong, you deserved every single hit that I sent your way, and then some," she added with a small amount of venom.

As Buffy continued she began to walk a little closer to Faith with a mixture of anger, annoyance, disappointment and contempt in her eyes. Hearing her walking closer, Faith glanced in Buffy's direction. "But everything that's going on here," Buffy persisted as she locked her gaze with Faith's, "Everything that you came here to help us with, it's not about you...so get over it!"

For a short moment the two slayers kept their eye contact, neither wanting to be the first to back down. It didn't take long though for Buffy to break the contact, and focus back on what was most important.

"Now," she started with a slightly calmer voice, "Instead of fighting with each other, let's go beat some information out of a few demons. Maybe that will actually get us somewhere useful."

As much as Buffy wanted to continue to berate Faith, and really drive home all of the contempt she felt for her, she knew that they needed to put this behind them, and focus on the task at hand. She would have loved to tell Faith how selfish she was, and how Buffy would never forgive her, but she was determined to be the bigger person.

Despite losing control for a few minutes there, Buffy was proud of herself for how she handled the situation. The Buffy of a few years ago would have kept hitting Faith. Hell, she wouldn't have gone patrolling with her to begin with. The old Buffy wouldn't have even allowed her to stay and help in the first place. Yes, Buffy had certainly matured…but that didn't mean she was ready to forgive and forget everything that Faith had done. She wasn't sure if those wounds would ever fully heal.

* * *

Later that night as Faith was lying on Giles' couch trying to sleep, she couldn't seem to turn her brain off. She couldn't stop thinking about the fight that she and Buffy had, and the things that Buffy said.

Everything that Buffy had said was completely true. As much as she'd tried to rationalize to herself that fighting with her fellow slayer would be a good way for them to work out some of their issues, she hadn't fought back. She would never admit it outright, but she wanted Buffy to beat the shit out of her. She wanted the blonde to punish her for what she'd done.

It was selfish. No matter how she tried to rationalize it, she had been ultimately thinking of only herself. That habit wasn't going to be easy to break, but she was determined to make it happen.

The silver lining of the situation though was that Buffy seemed to be willing to try and allow Faith to help. It was becoming clearer and clearer with every action that Buffy carried out, just how much she had grown and matured. Despite her immense hatred for Faith, she was willing to put everything about their past on the back burner in favor of working solely on the task at hand.

Faith knew that she still had a long way to go before she would ever be accepted by her former friend, if that was even possible at all, but this was a start.

Things were going to be different this time. She was going to do just as Buffy had told her. She was going to get over her need to punish herself and simply focus on the situation at hand, because Buffy was right. It wasn't about her. It wasn't about either of them. It was about saving the world. And she was going to do everything in her power to help do just that.


	4. Motionless Progress

**Motionless Progress**

It had been just under three weeks since Faith had returned to Sunnydale to help Buffy and the others with Glory. So far, everything seemed to be going well with the rouge slayer and the people she was now trying to call her friends. Despite what Tara and Anya had heard about Faith's past, they seemed to take a liking to the interesting new addition of their group.

Although Tara was very shy, she seemed to almost feel Faith's pain and angst about gaining her redemption. She was the first to actually reach out to Faith and try to become friends with her, which Faith was extremely grateful for. Willow didn't seem too happy about it at first, but in a way it seemed that she understood.

In the beginning, Anya despised Faith just as much as Xander, Willow and Buffy had. In her eyes this was not only the women that had once attempted to kill her current boyfriend, but had also taken his virginity. To Anya, this meant that not only was Faith a physical threat to their well being, but she was also a threat to her and Xander's relationship.

Sensing the hostility that the ex-vengeance demon was giving off in her direction, Faith decided to approach her one day. She attempted to make small talk by asking Anya about her days as a demon and how she was adjusting to human life. After trying to fight the interaction for a little while, Anya eventually gave in and had a conversation with Faith.

After that, it seemed like Anya began to realize just how much she and the ex-con had in common. They had both been evil, by choice, at times in their lives. The only difference was that the Scoobies accepted Anya, and forgave her for her sins, even though they were far greater then Faith's. The ex-demon had a whole new respect for the slayer after really understanding that fact.

One day, she even freaked out at the rest of the group. She, Xander, Willow, Tara, Buffy, Faith and Giles were all discussing Glory and information they'd found on her, when out of the blue, Anya just snapped.

 _"Ya know!" Anya started emphatically. "You people are all really really mean!"_

 _Xander glanced at his girlfriend with confusion. "Umm…why's that, hun?"_

 _Anya continued her rant emotionally. "It's just not right how you all treat her. It isn't fair!"_

 _"Glory is a God," Willow stated with annoyance. "An evil God who's plan is to destroy us all. How else would you like us to treat her?"_

 _Anya rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Not Glory! I'm talking about Faith."_

 _At the mention of her name, all eyes instantly turned to Faith. "Woh," she started with her hands raised in defense, "Let's leave Faith out of this. Conversations about Faith don't usually go well."_

 _"No!" Anya continued, despite Faith's plea. "Faith and I had a very nice talk today and it made me realize just how horrible you people are being to her. I mean sure, she's made mistakes in the past, but who hasn't? I've killed more people in my long lifetime then I could ever attempt to count, and you all still accept me into your group and treat me as one of your own. And Angel and Spike! They've killed thousands of people and you dated Angel, Buffy. And you all accept Spike as a member of our team!"_

 _Anya continued her rant with as much passion as she started with. "Faith's past actions were far less severe compared to mine, and compared to Angel's and Spike's, and yet you still all treat her like dirt. She's trying to help us, just like I have ever since I became human, but instead of accepting her you all ignore her as much as you possibly can and say bad things about her behind her back. It's just not right!"_

 _The room fell silent as the occupants of it tried to take it all in and process it. Surprisingly, everyone in the room seemed to look slightly embarrassed of themselves as if Anya's words had actually gotten to them. Faith simply remained silently uncomfortable, and at the same time grateful for her new friend's defense._

After that day, the others all seemed to treat her with a little more respect. Xander would now make conversation with Faith. The two would joke around with one another on a regular basis and Faith no longer received cold and hate filled glances from him.

Surprisingly enough, even Willow seemed to let up a little. She didn't make a complete turn around, as Xander had, but it was clear that she was at least trying now. She would no longer completely ignore Faith's existence, and she would even speak to her when she absolutely had to. It wasn't much, but to Faith it was a good start.

The only person in the group that hadn't begun to act differently with regards to Faith after Anya's little speech was Buffy. From that first day she had agreed to work with her sister slayer and accept her help, she always recognized Faith's presence with a short, emotionless, "hey," and she rarely ignored her. This, however, was almost worse.

Instead of being ignored, like she had been with Xander and Willow, Faith's help was being accepted by Buffy, but she herself wasn't being accepted. Buffy treated her fellow slayer as nothing more then a coworker. In actuality, she really only treated her as a tool. Faith was simply extra muscle as far as Buffy was concerned.

Nothing Faith said or thought mattered. Any opinion she had was useless. Every word that came out of her mouth was forgotten within seconds. She wasn't even treated as a person. She was nothing.

Faith had accepted this, but she would be lying if she were to say that she wasn't slightly disappointed at still being treated the way she was by the other slayer, even after all of the others had seemed to be trying their best to once again let her in. Even Buffy's younger sister and her mother had let the dark slayer back into their lives.

After everything that Faith had done to Joyce, the moment she set foot into the Summers house she was greeted with a warm smile and forgiving eyes. Faith would never in a million years understand why the oldest Summers woman would be so forgiving so quickly. She had half expected a slap in the face, but she never received one.

Even Dawn didn't take long to warm up to the younger slayer once again. She was a stubborn little brat at first, sending Faith as many dirty looks as she could muster, and throwing around a lot of anger filled questions about why she had to be there. But Faith knew a thing or two about teenagers. They're easy to bribe. The second time she saw the youngest Scooby, she tossed her an old necklace of hers that she no longer wore, but that was still "way cool" according to Dawn.

It was a relief to be accepted into the group again within such a short amount of time, but Faith was still being shut out by the only person that she'd ever wanted acceptance from in the first place. It was even worse considering that Buffy was the one in charge. Giles liked to pretend that he ran the show most of the time, but it was clear that the student had surpassed the teacher a long time ago in this scenario.

Buffy was always the one who would formulate the plans and execute them. The others would help with research and ideas, but ultimately the decisions were up to the slayer in charge. This meant that Faith had no say in what the group was to do, or even in what she was to do. She was forced to follow blindly which definitely wasn't something that she was used to or that she was ok with.

But she complied. She followed orders without protest. She rarely questioned anything and almost never gave suggestions, for the few times that she had, they were instantly shot down. She allowed herself to become what Buffy saw her as, a tool, some extra muscle, nothing more.

She thought she'd been making progress with the older slayer though. Buffy had recently had her 20th birthday. Her mom wanted everyone at the house for a nice little birthday party to get in some normalcy in the midst of everything that had been going on. She even wanted Faith to be there.

At first she had politely declined, explaining to the kind women that Buffy would probably have a much happier birthday without her former enemy around. But of course, Joyce had insisted that what she said was untrue, and made her promise to be there. Faith couldn't say no to that, so she decided to try and use the experience as a way to break through their current rift.

 _Joyce, Willow, Tara, Dawn, Xander, Anya, Giles and Faith were all circled around the birthday girl and her presents. A bright smile was on Buffy's face as she began to open up her gifts. Faith could tell that having all of her family and friends there, plus getting to open presents was like heaven for Buffy. She got to sort of be a kid again._

 _Faith had gotten a present for her sister slayer, but she hadn't put it with the rest of the gifts. She wasn't sure how Buffy was going to react to the ex-con actually getting her something for her birthday, and frankly, Faith didn't really want the others to know that she had gotten her anything._

 _So, Faith decided to bide her time and wait for the right moment to spring her gift onto the other slayer. In other words, she wanted to wait until Buffy was alone._

 _As the night was coming to a close, Faith was convinced she was never going to get her shot. There had always been someone with Buffy, no matter where she was. When she went into the kitchen to get something, Giles and Joyce joined her. When she went upstairs to her room to put her gifts away, Willow and Tara offered to help her. Even Dawn had fallowed her to the bathroom once._

 _She had especially thought she'd never get a chance to talk to Buffy when Dawn had freaked out about everyone acting weird around her. The rest of the Scoobies had just found out about Dawn being the key earlier that day, and they weren't doing a very good job of acting cool around her. It was inevitable that the teen was going to flip out eventually._

 _When she had, Faith was sure that Joyce and Buffy were going to call it a night and send them all home. Luckily though, they decided that Dawn was just being an overreacting teenager and kept the party going._

 _Faith stood alone in the hallway with a beverage in her hand watching the people in the living room in front of her. She watched Giles and Buffy's mom seated on the couch having a casual conversation about normal, everyday things. Then she glanced over by the fireplace where Xander and Anya seemed to be having a very intimate conversation, sneaking kisses from time to time._

 _Then her attention was pulled to Buffy and Willow seated one on the coffee table and the other on a chair, chatting it up with some girl talk. Just as she was beginning to notice that Tara was missing from the group, the shy blonde appeared behind her._

 _"Still haven't gotten your chance yet, huh?" Tara asked quietly so that only Faith could hear her._

 _Faith smiled slightly and shook her head. "It's not looking like I'm going to," she responded. Tara was the only one who knew that Faith had gotten Buffy a gift and that she wanted to give it to her alone. She and Tara had often had long talks with one another. They'd become close in the past week and a half._

 _"You better," Tara insisted. "I think this whole thing is a really good idea. You and Buffy need to become friends again, and I think this will be a really good start."_

 _Faith dropped her head slightly. "I hope so," she replied. Then she raised her gaze again to look at Tara. "You think she'll like it?" she asked with a slightly nervous tone._

 _Tara smiled at the slayer. "She's gonna love it," she answered._

 _"Yeah," Faith began sarcastically, "If I ever get the chance to give it to her, that is."_

 _Tara smirked with a 'cat who got the canary' grin. Without warning, she walked away from Faith with purpose._

 _"Hey, Buffy," she called for the blonde slayer. When her attention was grabbed, Tara continued. "Do you think you could come into the kitchen with me for a second? I can't find the umm…cups, for the uh…tea."_

 _Faith tried to turn her attentions elsewhere as she silently cursed Tara for being so obvious._

 _Buffy raised an eyebrow, but rose from her seat none the less. "Sure," she responded skeptically as she began to walk towards Tara and Faith._

 _Tara sent a quick smile and a wink in Faith's direction. The dark haired slayer shook her head and whispered, "I hate you," under her breath._

 _Tara smiled and whispered back, "You're welcome." Then when Buffy reached the two girls, Tara continued putting on her poorly performed show. "Umm…you know what? I just remembered something really important that I have to tell Willow. If I don't go tell her r-right n-now I might forget to tell her l-later. So…I'm just going to go do that and Faith can help you w-with the tea cups. Ok? Great," she answered as she left the two alone, not giving Buffy a chance to protest._

 _Both women became instantly uncomfortable as soon as Tara left them alone together, however, Buffy looked a little more annoyed then uncomfortable. Fidgeting slightly, Faith decided to try and break the awkwardness. "So," she began, "I guess we should probably go get those cups."_

 _"Guess so," Buffy replied as she began to make her way into the kitchen._

 _Sighing, Faith whispered lightly under her breath, "After you," before walking after the clearly aggravated slayer._

 _When the two slayers were finally alone in the kitchen, Buffy was quickly reaching into the cabinets and pulling out several coffee mugs for the tea. Faith knew that she only had a very limited amount of time before her sister slayer would split, but she couldn't seem to find the words to start saying what she wanted to say._

 _As she was just opening her mouth to speak, Buffy beat her to it. She quickly turned to face Faith with an annoyed look on her face. "What's going on, Faith? I'm not stupid. I know that for some reason Tara wanted to give us a chance to be alone together."_

 _Trying to lighten the mood, Faith laughed slightly. "Yeah, that Tara is a sweet girl and all, but she's definitely not going to be winning any subtlety awards."_

 _Buffy nodded her head in agreement. "You've got that right," she responded. Quickly getting back to the situation at hand, she then added, "Now what is this about?"_

 _This was her moment, the only chance that she was going to get. After taking a deep breath, Faith began to nervously rub her hands together and attempted to explain. "Do you think we could go outside on the back porch for a minute?" she asked. Upon receiving a skeptical look from the blonde, Faith continued. "I just…needed to talk to you about something and I don't want anyone walkin in and interrupting the conversation or anything, yah know?"_

 _"Ook," Buffy responded, still looking incredulous as she walked towards the back door from the kitchen._

 _When the two slayers were outside on the back porch with a fairly good chance of no interruptions, Faith was able to finally make her move. "Ok, uh," she began nervously. "I actually just wanted to bring you out here so I could give you this."_

 _After finishing her statement, Faith reached into the left pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out a small, neatly wrapped box. She slowly handed it to a very confused looking Buffy._

 _"I know that you probably didn't expect me to get you anything," Faith continued to explain, "And I've never really been all that great about the whole gift giving concept, but this is just something that I really wanted to do."_

 _After taking a very short pause, the slayer continued without giving herself a chance to assess Buffy's reaction or to even give her the chance to open the gift. "You might not even like it, or you might not want it because it's from me, but I really just want you to have it," she rambled on. "I know you said you don't want us to be friends, but I'd really like it if we could maybe try. I figured we could start like this, because this is what friends do. They give gifts when it's one of their birthdays."_

 _Buffy seemed to be rendered speechless. She slowly glanced down at the small box in her hand, and then back up at Faith, and then back to the box several times. She continuously opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, as if she couldn't find the right words._

 _"I don't really know what to say," she finally got out slowly. "Your right, I didn't expect a gift from you. Truth be told I wasn't even sure you'd be here at all tonight."_

 _"Yeah, well, your mom kind of insisted," Faith responded. "I told her you'd probably have a much better birthday if I wasn't around, but she seemed to want me to come anyway."_

 _Buffy's head fell slightly. "That's not really what I mean," she countered. "It's not that I didn't want you here, Faith. It's just that…well things are awkward between us. I just figured you wouldn't come, to avoid that."_

 _Faith smiled nervously and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, well, you know me. I'm just a glutton for punishment I guess."_

 _A brief moment of silence and discomfort filled the air as both slayers tried to think of what they should say, or do next. This time, Faith was the one to break the silence._

 _"So," she started, "You gonna open that thing, or do you just like the wrapping job so much that you don't want to mess up the paper?"_

 _Faith's efforts earned her a small, amused smile which was something she hadn't been the cause of in at least two years. As if on queue, it caused an immediate smile to appear on Faith's face as well._

 _"Well it is a pretty nice wrap job," Buffy commended. She glanced in Faith's direction with a knowing half smile on her face. "Had a little help, didn't you?"_

 _Lowering her head in defeat, the brunette smiled back and nodded her head. "Yeah, unfortunately I can't take credit for the wrapping. Those compliments can go to Tara. She helped me pick out the gift too. Like I said before, I'm not really good at this stuff."_

 _Buffy laughed slightly. "Yeah, I know. I remember the Christmas gifts you got me, Dawn and mom."_

 _The recollection of the past event made Faith begin to laugh right along with her fellow slayer. "Oh man, those gifts were so crappy."_

 _"They were pretty crappy," Buffy agreed with an amused nod._

 _Faith continued to smile and nod her head in agreement, but then her face began to take a more serious manner once again. "Lucky for you I've learned how to ask for help since then."_

 _The double meaning of Faith's words seemed to register with Buffy as she began to focus her attention back onto the small box in her hand. Without saying another word, the birthday girl unwrapped the gift to find a small box underneath the paper that looked as though it would be holding jewelry within it._

 _She appeared to be completely unsure of how to react at the site of it. Jewelry was usually a very intimate gift, or a gift for extremely close girl friends to give to one another. Buffy was clearly already uncomfortable enough accepting a gift from Faith, but to have that gift be jewelry made her even more uneasy._

 _As if Faith was reading her fellow slayer's mind, she smiled and nudged the blonde. "Relax, B," she instructed calmly. "It's not jewelry or anything like that. Well…not really anyway. Just open the box."_

 _With slight relief in her breathing, Buffy continued unwrapping her gift by opening the box. Her eyes lit up with wonder as she inspected what was inside._

 _Inside of the box Buffy found what appeared to be a small coin shaped piece of silver attached to a black, thread like chain. Carved into the small charm were what looked like ancient simples of some sort._

 _"According to Tara, it's supposed to be a protection necklace," Faith began to explain. "The carvings on it are Egyptian symbols that are meant to ward off dangerous energies, or something like that."_

 _"It's beautiful," Buffy replied softly as she continued to look the item over. And surprisingly enough, the stubborn slayer even managed to push out a, "Thank you," without it even sounding forced at all._

 _A smile quickly appeared on Faith's face at the success of her gift. Things finally seemed to be looking up when it came to their relationship._

 _"You're welcome."_

Despite the occurrence at Buffy's birthday party that had seemed to be a giant step forward for the two slayers, this night was shaping up to prove that there had been no forward advances made at all. This night, Buffy was irrational and pissed off, and once again Faith's opinions meant nothing.


	5. Breaks and Mends

_Note: So sorry it's taken soooo long to update! Thank you so much to those of you have reviewed and stuck with this story. I'll try to do better with my updates going forward._

 **Breaks and Mends**

After Dawn's flip out at Buffy's birthday party, the gang hadn't realized that Buffy's kid sister had slipped out of the house, taken off to break into the magic shop, and found out that she was the key. Once she'd come back, she was extremely confused and irrational, so much so that the next day she ended up splitting again and nearly getting herself killed by Glory.

Luckily for the whole gang, Willow had pulled a spell to get Glory out of the picture, at least for the time being. After getting Dawn back home to her mom safely, Buffy called an emergency meeting at Giles' shop. This was currently where the group was held up.

"I'm sick of just doing research," Buffy stated angrily. "I'm sick and tired of waiting, like sitting ducks, for Glory to find out that Dawn is the key."

"Buffy, I understand you're upset," Giles began. He was unable to finish, however, as the frustrated slayer interrupted.

"Upset?" Buffy barked. "Glory nearly had her, Giles. Dawn could have been killed tonight. I am not going to sit back and wait for her to come back and finish the job. I realize that by doing all of this research we're only thinking defensively, which is smart. But I can't do it anymore. It's time to play a little offence."

"Suicidal much?" Faith chocked out softly. As soon as the words left her mouth she immediately regretted letting them slip. She had done a pretty good job of keeping her mouth shut since she'd arrived back in Sunnydale, but for some reason she just couldn't hold this one in.

Buffy's intense gaze instantly found its way to Faith. She crossed her arms defiantly and looked at her fellow slayer as if she wasn't sure she's heard her correctly.

"What's the matter, Faith? You used to be all for these kinds of missions." Buffy slowly began to make her way towards her counterpart with intimidation in her eyes. "The more there were, the bigger and strong they were, the more riled up you used to get. 'Drop me in the hornets nest, what the hell?' Sound familiar?"

Faith stood her ground not allowing herself to be unsettled by Buffy. "People change, B. I'm sorry, I'd love to be on your side on this, kicking some serious ass, but going after Glory right now is just plain nuts. I mean she's a God. She pretty much wiped the floor with Spike, me and you back at the hospital. We need to be smart about this is all I'm sayin."

Spike scoffed at Faith. "That's just because we weren't ready for her. I think Buffy's right. We need to mount up, gather the weapons, the big guns, and take Glory down once and for all, before she does worse to us."

Faith rolled her eyes at the bleach blonde vampire. "Yeah, you would agree with her, Captain Peroxide." It was obvious to Faith almost right from the beginning that Spike had a thing for Buffy. She couldn't believe that the others couldn't see it, and it was a big understatement to say that she was a little pissed off about the vampire's little crush.

"And what's that supposed to mean, Slayer?" Spike asked as he jumped down from his seat on the counter to get into Faith's face.

Faith simply smiled at the challenging look. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about," she spat back softly.

"That's enough, the both of you," Giles interrupted, scowling at them as if they were two unruly children. "I think we all just need to go home and calm down for the night. We can discuss what to do about Glory in the morning."

"No, Giles," Buffy snapped quickly at the older man. "Glory may not wait until tomorrow. We need to deal with this now while she's weak from Willow's spell. We need to take the fight to her."

Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Faith could tell that he was trying to think of something to say to get through to Buffy and make her see reason, but he was coming up short.

"I'm sorry to say it, Buff, but I think Faith is right," Xander chimed in. "We still have no idea exactly what Glory is capable of, aside from being able to royally kick all of our asses without breaking a sweat."

"He's right, Buffy," Willow add weakly. She was clearly still drained from power it took to initiate the spell. "I mean, it took everything that I had just to transport Glory to who knows where tonight, and that was just a temporary thing. For all I know it could have worn off already. We need to learn more about her before we send out a full blown attack. We need to figure out her weak spots, maybe figure out exactly how to kill her, or at least how to send her back to her own dimension. We don't even know what the key is supposed to do. We're almost completely in the dark here. It just isn't smart to go in blind like that."

"I can't believe you guys are taking her side," Buffy said with a shake of her head.

Through Buffy's anger she seemed to block out every single word of logic that her friends were trying to impart upon her. In her frustrations there were apparently only three words that she allowed herself to hear. 'Faith is right.'

"This isn't about sides, Buff," Xander tried to reason. "This is about not getting dead."

"Oh I think I know exactly what this is about," Buffy retorted in her blind rage.

Faith shook her head in disbelief. She just couldn't believe that Buffy hated her that much. She couldn't believe that the older slayer would somehow turn this argument against her. She had taken a lot of crap from Buffy over the past few weeks, but she just couldn't take it any longer.

"Are you seriously going to do this, B?" Faith asked as her own rage began to build. "Are you honestly going to turn this into something about me? I've made a lot of bad decisions in my life, Buffy, but right now this isn't about me. This time it's you who's making the bad decision, and your friends aren't siding with me because they like me better. They're agreeing with me because I'm right."

"No, Faith," Buffy replied, "You're not right. You can't be right. And you know why?" She left the question hanging for a moment clearly knowing that Faith wouldn't respond. Then she answered her own question. "You're not right, because your opinion doesn't matter. _Nothing_ you say matters."

Faith's hardened expression faltered for a short moment. She couldn't deny to herself that Buffy's words hurt. They cut like a knife, but she also couldn't let her, or anyone else know that, so the walls came shooting right back up as if they'd never once threatened to be taken down.

"And that's always how it's been, right, B?" she responded calmly. "Nothing I've ever said or done has ever mattered to you, or to anyone for that matter."

"Oh save us the pity party, _F_ ," Buffy continued sharply. "You stopped mattering when you made the decision to fight on the side of evil and _kill people_. You remember that?"

Faith simply smiled and shook her head. "I stopped mattering long before that, B. I never mattered to you. Nothing I ever did mattered." As the slayer continued on she started to lose her grip on her control and her voice slowly began to turn into a desperate yell. "Nothing I ever did would get you to even give me a second look, or a second thought. No matter how many vampires I slayed with you, no matter how many demons I killed, no matter how many times I did favors for you without question. There was _nothing_ I could have _ever_ done to matter to you."

Buffy's expression of stone slowly started to weaken as Faith's words finally seemed to be getting through to her.

Despite the fact that Buffy had seemingly calmed down, Faith wasn't done. After getting all fired up she couldn't find the off switch. Something inside of her just snapped and she proceeded to push by getting right up into Buffy's face and continuing with venom in her attitude.

"Did you ever even stop to think that maybe _you_ were the reason why I made that choice, B?" she asked softly but heatedly. "Did you ever toss around the possibility that since I knew I would never be accepted by you and the Super Friends, that I decided to go to someone that _would_ accept me?"

* * *

Buffy closed her eyes tightly as a wave of emotions began to flow through her. Anger, confusion, guilt. She couldn't bring herself to look at Faith as she continued, no longer wanting to listen until she could sort through the complicated feelings rushing through her.

"Did you ever think that if maybe you would have tried a little harder, or even tried at all for that matter, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation right now?" Faith continue. "Maybe you and I would be…" Faith paused for a moment as she seemed to be gaining some control back. Her anger was starting to calm. "…friends…instead of enemies."

As Buffy studied Faith's features, she thought she saw something in her expression. She wasn't sure what it was, but she was convinced that if Faith hadn't caught herself, she likely would have said something different. Buffy briefly saw regret in her eyes before the mask that hid her emotions returned. Before the mask was fully back up though, she could also see the pain in Faith's brown pools as she found herself looking deeper into them. She wanted to say something, but as she opened her mouth, she couldn't seem to find the words. What could she possibly say to something like that?

After keeping her eyes locked with Buffy's for what seemed like an eternity, Faith broke the contact.

She slowly glanced around the room at the six staring faces that had just silently witnessed the two slayer's verbal battle. Embarrassment and regret showed on her face as she watched the shocked faces watch her back. The three that had known her the longest looking just like how Buffy was feeling, as if they wanted to speak, but couldn't find the words.

Without another word, Faith turned around and quickly walked out of the shop leaving seven stunned and speechless people behind her.

* * *

The room was silent for several moments after Faith left. A million things were rushing through Willow's mind, and speech just seemed entirely too complicated at that moment.

It wasn't too long, however, before the silence was broken.

Scoffing, Spike crossed his arms over his chest with a look of disbelief on his face. "Do you believe that?" he asked rhetorically. "That bitch has some nerve trying to blame all of her bad decisions on the lot of you."

"Shut up, Spike," Willow voiced numbly.

She was lost in her own thoughts, several questions and emotions running through her mind. The young witch had never really thought of the possibility that Faith had turned evil because of their lack of attention, as she was sure the other's hadn't thought about it either. They had all just assumed that Faith had always been bad, that it was her own fault.

Ultimately it was Faith's decision and no one else's to switch sides, but the fact that Willow had never even thought of the possibility that she and her friends may have had a hand in pushing her over the edge was proof that they probably had. If they hadn't cared enough to even realize how their actions, or lack thereof, had affected Faith's decision then they clearly just never cared that much about her at all to begin with. They never even gave her a chance.

Thinking back, the red head was beginning to realize that Faith really had tried pretty hard to be accepted by them. Although they may have been subtle, her attempts were still there. She was always up for slaying with Buffy and even expressed a great deal of interest in hanging out with her and her friends. But they'd never really shown that interest back. They never really involved Faith in anything unless her slayer powers were needed or they felt pity for her.

She was also right about helping them out a lot. Willow could remember the time that Faith kept an eye on Oz for them during a full moon while she could have been out partying, or slaying instead. She had also staid with Buffy's mom while she went looking for a distraught Angel on Christmas. A Christmas that she would have spent alone if Buffy hadn't invited her to come over, sure, but she'd only done so because her mother had asked her to.

As much as Willow wanted to continue hating Faith for what she'd done, and blaming her for the terrible decisions she'd made, there was no denying the fact that they had all, in one way or another, had a small hand in why she made those decisions. It was finally becoming clear to her now as the guilt was starting to set in.

While Willow's mind continued to go over past events, she almost didn't even notice that Buffy was walking towards the door.

Only several minutes after the gang had watched Faith silently leave the shop, they were now finding themselves witnessing the other slayer do the exact same thing. They watched their friend leave the room, without speaking a word, a mixture of emotions evident on her face.

* * *

"So stupid!" Faith chastised herself. She was sure that she'd just ruined everything she'd worked so hard for since she'd been back. How dare she blame them for the mistakes she made in the past? She was once again reminded in that moment that Buffy was right, she was selfish.

After deciding to take the path of redemption, Faith refused to allow herself to blame anyone but herself for her actions in the past, until this night. This night, she blew it. Faith turning to the dark side wasn't Buffy's fault. It wasn't anyone's fault but her own. She made a choice, and she had no right to blame that choice on anyone.

As she continued to beat herself up while walking along the dark streets of Sunnydale she could sense someone coming up from behind her. She didn't have to look to see who it was. She knew exactly who it was. Faith could feel Buffy coming from a mile away, the slayer connection buzzing.

Faith stopped before turning a corner in an alley. She sighed and dropped her head in defeat, preparing for another mental beating from the original slayer.

"I'm sorry," Buffy yelled from the other side of the alley.

The sound of those words took Faith by surprise. She furrowed her eyebrows as she played the words back in her mind to make sure that she's heard them right.

Buffy continued before Faith could fully process what was going on and come up with a response. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

Again, Faith was completely confused. She had been expecting a huge verbal thrashing from the other slayer. Something along the lines of, 'how dare you blame me for your mistakes?' Never in her wildest dreams had she expected an apology.

"You've been nothing but helpful since you got here and I've been nothing but a bitch to you," Buffy continued.

She shocked Faith even more as she went on. "And you're right. We never gave you a chance back in high school. You were different, and we didn't want someone different in our tight knit group. No one ever said the words out loud, but I know we all felt it. We feared the unknown. We feared you. So we pushed you away. We shut you out. And that was wrong. I understand that now."

Faith couldn't believe her ears. Maybe what Buffy was saying was true but it still didn't justify Faith's actions. She couldn't let Buffy blame herself for her past. The guilt of putting the idea in her head in the first place was already eating away at her.

"No, Buffy, please," Faith responded. "Please don't say that. It doesn't matter what you guys did. I made a choice. The wrong choice, but it was my choice. It had nothing to do with you. It had nothing to do with any of you. What I said back there, I was just fired up. I shouldn't have said any of that stupid shit."

"No, I'm glad you did," Buffy interrupted. "You're right. All of those things you did were your choices. I know I'm not the one to blame for your actions, but I'm not going to sit here and play the saint either. Not anymore."

This wasn't right. Buffy was being entirely too understanding. Faith wasn't used to this. She wasn't really sure how to handle it. Fighting was something she knew how to do. They always fought. They were good at it. But this was all new territory. Although, as confusing as it all was, Faith was pretty sure that she liked it. She didn't want to mess up anymore.

Faith sighed as she tried to let some of the weight on her shoulders slide off. "I just wish I could take it all back, B. I wish I'd never hurt you like I did. I know you've said in the past that you really don't wanna hear it but…I truly am sorry."

And she meant it. She meant every word. She had never meant anything so much, or wanted so much for anyone to trust that what she was saying was true so badly in her entire life. She just wanted to start over.

"I'm sorry too." Almost as if Buffy was reading her mind, she smiled and nodded her head slightly. "I think we should try to pick up a new leaf, or however that saying goes. We can never really forget about our past, but lets at least try to ignore it for once. I'm willing to start fresh, and get to know each other again if you are."

Buffy showed Faith that cute half smile that never failed to make her icy heart melt a little. And in that moment the night that was quickly shaping up to be Faith's worst night in Sunnyhell since she'd been back had done a complete 180 and become one of the best.

Faith returned the heartfelt smile. "I'd really like that, B."


	6. Unexpected Behavior

**Unexpected Behavior**

Things had been going pretty well since Buffy and Faith decided to start a new and try to develop a friendship. After Faith's outburst there was awkwardness at first, mainly between Faith and the others, but after a few days that awkwardness seemed to pass. Ironically the only person who stopped acting uncomfortably around Faith right away was Buffy.

Faith wasn't sure how it happened but ever since that night when they agreed to start fresh, Buffy had been a completely different person towards her. She would welcome Faith's ideas and input when it came to the fight against Glory. She would actually make an effort to say hello to her and make small talk, and she even smiled when she saw Faith walk into the room, instead of rolling her eyes or scoffing.

It was as if a switch had been flipped. Faith wasn't sure what was going through Buffy's mind that night that they apologized to each other, but whatever it was, it changed her. And that made Faith happier than she'd ever admit. This was her chance. Buffy was finally letting her start fresh.

This was her chance to show her fellow slayer that she'd changed and that the thing she wanted most in the world was redemption for what she'd done. She was one of the good guys now and Buffy was finally opening her eyes to see that.

"Faith, you ready?"

The younger slayer was shaken from her thoughts as Buffy waited for her at the door of The Magic Box. They were doing a duel patrol and recon mission, patrolling graveyards while also trying to beat some information out of some beasties. This had become a routine for them lately.

They hadn't gotten much further on their research regarding Glory. Things had been fairly quiet since Willow pulled her mojo on the beautiful god. The Scoobies assumed that this was due to the fact that Glory was recouping but there was no way of knowing how long the quiet would last.

Faith nodded her head, pushed off from the counter she was leaning against, and headed towards Buffy at the door.

The two slayers walked out the door and towards the first graveyard in perfect unison. They matched each other step for step as if they'd done this a thousand times before. Even though that wasn't true it felt that way to Faith. They had quickly fallen into a pattern after their reconciliation.

Walking to the cemetery they were mostly quiet with some light chatting about everyday stuff, such as something funny Dawn had said that day, or how embarrassing it was the time Faith accidentally walked in on Giles while he was showering. They talked about everything that friends normally talk about.

"So Anya walks over to Xander and slaps him across the face with the most pissed off look you could imagine," Faith animated, swinging her hand in a backwards motion to simulate the slap.

Buffy smiled and tried to hold back a laugh as if she already knew the ending to this story would be hilarious. "And?"

Faith paused and smiled letting the punch line linger a little. "Turns out he'd been talking to his mom and it was all just a big misunderstanding."

The blonde burst into laughter. "Wow. I think misunderstanding is an understatement for what that was."

"You're tellin me," Faith laughed in return.

The two slayers were doing a terrible job of keeping quite as they went along on their patrol, but then suddenly Buffy's face got serious and she stopped in her tracks. Faith stopped laughing and walking as well. She opened her ears and focused on what she knew must be something that Buffy had heard.

It didn't take Faith long to hear it too. There was something a few hundred feet ahead making a rustling noise in the bushes. She could hear the faint hum of thick breathing that sounded anything but human. Her slayer senses reacted quickly and every muscle in her body tensed and readied itself for battle.

Buffy looked towards Faith and nodded for her to follow the blonde slayer's lead. Faith nodded back her acknowledgement of the silent plan and followed Buffy slowly and discreetly in the direction of the noises.

Moving as a unit, the slayer's circled on each side of the noises that were growing louder as they got closer. Just as they were about to pounce on their prey, the noises went dead. They stilled themselves for a moment trying to get a fix on anything that could help them pinpoint where the hiding demon, or demons, were located. Before they had the chance to figure that out they were ambushed from all sides.

"Fuck. Shoulda known this was a trap," Faith hissed as she blocked a punch coming from a short, ugly demon who looked like he was in bad need of a dermatologist.

Faith blocked another hit coming from behind her and then lashed out rapidly at the first demon with her fist while thrusting a backwards kick at the second. Both demons went flying with ease but there were more coming to take their place. Faith sent a quick glance Buffy's way to make sure she was alright and saw her easily fending off her attackers as well.

Something wasn't right about this. There were at least ten to twelve of the ugly little demons but Buffy and Faith were fending them off without a problem. The demons were weak and unable to get even a single hit in against the two slayers. It was almost too easy despite the fact that they were out numbered.

Faith pulled out her knife from its holster attached to her thigh, and quickly plunged it into the gut of one of the oncoming demons. From the corner of her eye she could see Buffy roll to her bag, pull out a short ax and fling it into the head of another one of the skin challenged demons.

As soon as the weapons came out, the demons began to disburse. Faith could hear them whimpering like children as they fled for their lives.

"Yeah, you better run!" Buffy yelled after them.

"Well that was rude," Faith commented as she caught her breath.

"Sure was," Buffy responded, "And also a little too easy. I barely broke a sweat. In fact I didn't break a sweat. See," Buffy pointed to her forehead and waited for Faith to look, "No sweat."

Faith nodded. "Gotta agree with yah there, B. Those guys were weak as hell. Easiest fight I've had since prison where all I had to fight were normal people."

"We'll have to remember what they looked like so we can report back to Giles," Buffy continued. "I don't think I've ever seen demons like that before so they might have something to do with Glory."

"Could be," Faith agreed. "In the mean time I guess we should probably keep up the patrol and see if there's anything else we can turn up."

Buffy nodded and the two slayers continued walking, this time in silence keeping their slayer hearing on alert for anything out of the ordinary. Their chit chat session was over. It was time to go to work.

* * *

The rest of the night's patrol was fairly quiet, right up until the end of the night. Both slayers were about to call it a night and head their separate ways to the places that they called home when they saw the earth above a fresh grave begin to move.

"Are you kidding me?" Faith scoffed. "We get a dozen weak ass demons and a newbie vamp? That's it?" She shook her head. "There's just no excitement in patrolling anymore."

Faith instantly knew that she'd jinxed herself as soon as she heard a low growl coming from behind her. She quickly turned to see three very hungry looking vampires with smiles plastered on their faces. A laugh coming from Faith's left made her quickly change direction to find two more vampires.

Buffy sighed and Faith turned to look in the direction that the blonde was looking. There were four more vampires to the other side of them. "Faith, you are no longer allowed to speak."

The younger slayer shrugged her shoulders in a mock apology. "Fair enough," she responded as she readied herself for battle. She and Buffy positioned themselves back to back as they waited for the vampires to make the first move. The vampires all slowly moved in together and as soon as the first one sprung into action the fight was on.

Sounds of precision kicks and thrusting of stakes into dead hearts filled the air. The slayers worked in perfect synchronicity slowly evening the odds until all but two of the last few vampires took off into the night, clearly knowing that the options were either running or dying.

As Buffy plunged her stake into her vampire's heart, Faith's vampire got a lucky shot and knocked her off her feet. The vampire was standing over Faith within seconds but she had a perfect plan to regain control. However, just as she was about to kick the vampire's feet out from under him, Buffy thrust her stake into the vampire's heart dusting him instantly.

The sliding foot that Faith had meant to use to trip the vampire above her missed its target as it disappeared into thin air, and instead found a different target effectively knocking Buffy off of her feet and right on top of Faith.

The first thing that Faith felt was the wind being temporarily knocked out of her at the force of Buffy's weight on top of her. She didn't take long to recover, and to become aware of the second feeling running through her. The second feeling she registered was a series of extremely pleasant tingles that rushed through her at the contact of their bodies pressed together. It was the same feeling she had always gotten anytime those rare occasions occurred when the two slayers touched. Her breath caught as she allowed herself to enjoy the tingles for a brief moment.

Faith immediately felt a heat between them. She didn't want to move a muscle, or say a word, or even breath for the fear that any one of those things might cause Buffy to move off of her, which she realized was the last thing she wanted.

Trying to gain some composure, she stole a glance into the blonde's beautiful green eyes, and for a moment it almost looked as if Buffy didn't want to move from her position either. She made no attempt to remove herself from her spot on top of Faith. Their eyes locked and it felt like something passed between them.

At first Faith thought it was just wishful thinking, but she could swear that she saw desire in Buffy's eyes. Buffy wet her lips, and her eyes drifted to Faith's lips. Then she leaned down just a fraction, bringing their lips mere inches apart. Faith's breath caught in anticipation of what might happen next as she slowly leaned her head up towards Buffy.

And that was the moment that a cat ruined everything Faith was fantasizing about happening next.

* * *

Buffy lifted herself from Faith and stood up straight in a fighting stance as soon as she heard a rustling sound by the gated entrance of the cemetery. She breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her stance when she realized that it was only a small, black cat squeezing its way through the bars of the gate.

"Little jumpy there, B?" Faith asked as she slowly picked herself up from the ground, and brushed some dirt off of her clothes.

Buffy watched Faith's hands move over her body for a moment, before snapping her eyes away. _What is wrong with me_?

She had to take a few moments to process what had just happened before responding. To be completely honest, she wasn't sure what the hell just happened, or what almost happened. The older slayer wasn't exactly sure why, but for some reason when she had found herself on top of Faith she'd had no desire whatsoever to get up.

The look that Faith had been giving her didn't exactly help either. She never quite understood her own reactions around the darker slayer but this time was the worst. This time she'd nearly lost all control over her own body. As shocking as it was to admit to herself, she was pretty sure that she had just been about to kiss Faith.

It was ludicrous. Not only was Faith a woman, a gender of which Buffy was not attracted to, she was also, up until recently, her arch enemy. There was no way that Buffy could be attracted to Faith. It was impossible.

Wasn't it?

"B? You ok?" Faith asked with a concerned ton, shaking Buffy from her thoughts.

"What?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." The blonde forced a light laugh. "I guess I am a little jumpy."

"Understandable," Faith nodded. The look that Faith gave Buffy indicated that her response had multiple meanings. "So I guess we should get outta here and catch some shut eye? Regroup with Giles and the Scoobs in the morning?"

Buffy nodded her head. "Yeah…sleep…good." As much as she was trying to be calm and not show Faith how shaken she was, she was failing miserably.

As they walked together out of the graveyard and then went their separate ways, to their separate homes, Buffy knew that she wouldn't be getting much sleep that night. She knew she was going to have way too much to sort out in her head to even think about sleeping.

* * *

As she expected, later that night, Buffy laid awake in her bed, unable to sleep. She couldn't seem to turn her mind off. Buffy wasn't able to rationalize what had happened between her and Faith. It was as if she had an out of body experience. Like she didn't have control of her own body while she was on top of Faith.

Which didn't make any sense. Why would she do that? Faith was a woman, and Buffy was attracted to men. Not only that, but this was Faith. They had too much bad history between them. Even if Faith wasn't a woman, there could never be anything between them.

Could there?

No matter how hard she tried to keep it buried, she had to admit to herself that there had always been something between she and Faith. From the day they met, there had been a spark between them. Something that Buffy always tried to ignore, but was always just below the surface. A tingle that rolled through her whole body whenever Faith was around.

The tingles that she felt anytime that Faith was near her, or touching her, reminded her of the tingles that she used to get around Angel. She had felt them right from the start, back when she first met Faith. Buffy hated herself for it, but she knew it was a big reason why she always kept Faith at a distance and why she never allowed herself to get close to the other slayer. It was selfish, but it was easier that way. If she ignored that spark, she could just go about her life without having to deal with being attracted to a woman.

It didn't make any sense anyway. Buffy had never been attracted to a woman before. She had been boy crazy since she was old enough to say "boy." But for some reason, there was something about Faith that pulled her in. Maybe it was her unwavering confidence, her strong, sexy body, or her bad girl attitude that reminded Buffy a little bit of a guy. She even thought at first that it might have to do with the fact that they're both slayers. She thought it might just be some kind of slayer spark. There had never been two slayers at one time before so maybe this was just what it felt like to be around another slayer.

But deep down she knew that wasn't true. There had been two slayers at one time before, and Buffy hadn't felt the spark with Kendra. There had been a certain slayer tingle when Buffy was around Kendra, sure, but it was more like a beacon letting her know that another slayer was near. She had it with Faith too, but the other tingles, the spark, that she felt with Faith was something different that she never felt with Kendra. If she was being honest with herself, this was a spark that she hadn't felt with anyone before.

 _This is insane_ , Buffy thought to herself, _I am not attracted to Faith_. Even as she thought it, though, she knew it wasn't true. There was something there, and if she wasn't careful, she would have to face her feelings sooner rather than later. If that cat hadn't broken whatever trance Buffy was in at the time, who knew what would have happened.

The scariest part was that Buffy was pretty sure that Faith was in the same place. Something passed between them in that moment, and Buffy knew that it wasn't one-sided. That fact terrified her to her very core. There was already enough going on in her life right now. She didn't have any room in her crazy mind to deal with this on top of everything else.

With her mouth set in a thin line of resolve, Buffy closed her eyes and willed herself to fall asleep.

* * *

As Faith laid awake and stared at the ceiling, she couldn't stop thinking about the moment that she and Buffy shared earlier that night. Something had past between them in those few seconds that they laid on the grass, only inches apart from one another. As much as she tried to reason with herself that it wasn't possible, she had seen something in Buffy's eyes. Something that told her that her attraction to the blonde slayer may not be as unrequited as Faith always thought it was.

Faith wasn't afraid to admit to herself that she'd had a 'crush' on Buffy since the moment they first met. She would never forget spotting her at the Bronze with her friends, a cute smile on her face as she was chatting with Willow. She recalled with vivid detail how Buffy rushed out to try and save Faith from the vampire she was with, not realizing that Faith had it under control the whole time. She remembered the stunned look on Buffy's face when realization hit that Faith was the new slayer in town.

Buffy was adorable, and at the same time so strong, and brave. And she cared. That was one of the things that Faith always admired most about Buffy. Even though that compassion was rarely directed her way, she loved how much Buffy truly cared about helping people, about her friends and family. It was what always set her apart from Faith as the superior slayer. Buffy was an incredible woman.

 _But she'd never go for me_ , Faith thought to herself. She always knew that she'd never have a shot at being with Buffy, no matter how bad she wanted it. Buffy was straight, and even if she wasn't, Faith had burned any chance she possibly could have had long ago with how many times she'd hurt her fellow slayer. Despite their new found friendship, Faith was certain that there would be no way in hell Buffy would ever want anything more from her.

 _Then why did she almost kiss me?_ It was hard to believe, but Faith was almost positive of where things would have gone if it weren't for that stupid cat. Despite her resolve that Buffy would never be interested in her, she couldn't deny that there had to be at least a small shred of attraction on Buffy's end. There was no other way to explain her actions.

But even if Buffy did have a small attraction to Faith, she was still sure that it would never go anywhere. Buffy wouldn't let it. Hell would freeze over before Buffy would admit to being attracted to Faith, and whatever is beneath hell would also freeze over before Buffy would consciously act on that attraction.

There was really no use in trying to analyze what happened, or indulge in any type of wishful thinking, so Faith closed her eyes and once again attempted to drift off to sleep.


	7. Fighting

**Fighting**

"I've seen some ugly demons, but these little guys have got to be in the top 5 on the ugly list," Buffy explained with a grimace. As soon as they all woke up, Buffy had called a Scooby meeting to discuss the demons that she and Faith encountered the night before, in hopes that they might be able to connect them to Glory. The group was at their normal spots around the table at The Magic Box listening intently to every word that the slayers were saying.

"Yeah," Faith agreed, "They were in bad need of a dermatologist or something. They were short, super weak fighters with nasty ass faces. They had black eyes and wore ugly, brown robes."

"It almost seemed like they were just a distraction," Buffy continued. "They knew that we would overpower them, but they didn't seem to care. Until the end when a few of them fled, it seemed like they didn't care that they were all going to die."

Giles removed his glasses and began to clean them with his shirt. "That does seem rather odd." He picked up an opened book from a stack of them in the center of the table. "It is possible that these demons could be some type of servants to Glory."

Willow nodded her agreement. "We'll try and find them and show you both a picture to confirm once we do."

"Sounds like a plan," Buffy responded with a nod. Then she pointed towards the back room of the shop. "I'm going to go train for a bit."

Nodding his head, which was already deep into a demon book, Giles responded, "Yes, good idea. Faith, you should join her. It's best for you both to be in top shape for when we have to face Glory."

Buffy opened her mouth as if she was about to protest, but then thought better of it. She wanted to keep some distance from Faith after what happened the night before, but everyone knew that the two slayers had reconciled and were getting along great now. Any protests to spending time with Faith would only draw attention to them that she didn't want. She looked towards Faith with raised eyebrows.

Faith responded with the same gesture, almost as if asking her if it was really ok for her to join Buffy. The two hadn't been alone, or spoken since the night before.

The blonde slayer nodded her consent and walked towards the training room. Faith quickly followed behind her.

* * *

The moment that the door closed behind them, the tension between them could be cut with a knife. It was clear that they both knew something had passed between them the night before, and that they were both trying to put it behind them. Especially Buffy.

Before the silence could get overwhelmingly uncomfortable, Faith decided to make the first move. She started to stretch while she asked, "Wanna spar?"

Buffy looked apprehensive at first. She seemed to be having an internal conversation with herself as Faith waited for her to respond.

It was a risky move to go straight to suggesting a sparring match. Sparring would mean body on body contact, even if it was in a fighting manner. After what their body contact almost lead to the night before, it was no wonder that Buffy was hesitant. Plus, there was the fact that, at least for Faith, fighting with Buffy had always been pretty hot.

Whenever they fought, sparring or otherwise, it was electric. It always set Faith's entire body on fire. Their moves were fluid, graceful, but also direct and powerful. They were like fire and ice when they fought. Opposites in so many aspects, but also the same in how they moved, punched, kicked, and blocked hits in ways that only a vampire slayer could.

"Ok," Buffy finally responded.

A wide grin spread across Faith's face. "I'll try and go easy on you," she teased.

That gained her a smile back from the blonde slayer as she shook her head. "Please," Buffy replied with an eye roll. "If anything, you're going to need _me_ to go easy on _you_!"

Faith shook her head in return as she got into a fighting stance on the sparring mat. "In your dreams, B."

That last statement seemed to make Buffy falter a bit as she was getting into her own fighting stance. She stumbled a little and her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

 _Where was your mind just now, huh, B?_ Faith thought to herself as a half smile creeped up on her face. She quickly tried to hide it though. The last thing she wanted to do right now was to make things even more awkward between her and Buffy.

Ignoring Buffy's embarrassment, Faith got back into her stance, nodded her head, and asked, "Ready?"

Buffy, seemingly grateful that Faith either hadn't noticed, or ignored her stumble, nodded her head in return indicating she was ready. The fight was on.

They simply circled one another at first, trying to assess each other's weaknesses. Faith was trying to find a good opening to catch Buffy off guard and get the upper hand. As her eyes traveled up and down the blonde slayer's body, she quickly found herself getting distracted by the way Buffy moved. She was so agile, her moves carefully calculated and controlled, but ready to change course at any moment if needed. She was absolutely beautiful.

Seemingly noticing Faith's distracted state, Buffy struck first, sneaking up for a kick to Faith's gut that she was unable to block.

Faith stumbled backwards from the blow, but quickly recovered. She smiled to indicate that she was ok and ready to continue. _Fair enough, B. I get the message. Time to pay attention._

Getting her head back into the game, Faith charged towards the other slayer with a back handed punch aimed at her face. She knew that Buffy would block it, but that was her plan. The punch was just a distraction to get Buffy's hands near her face to take attention away from her other fist, which she sent into Buffy's side as soon as it was exposed.

Buffy grunted as Faith hit her target, but the taller slayer didn't have much time to enjoy her victory. Buffy quickly recovered and sent a knee into Faith's gut. She had just enough time to shuffle backwards, mostly avoiding the knee, making the hit minor. But Buffy wasn't giving up that easy. She continued to advance on Faith, sending blow after blow, as Faith attempted to dodge and block each punch and kick.

They continued this way for what seemed like hours. They traded blow after blow, taking turns with who had the upper hand, with neither one ever having it for long. They were evenly matched and enjoying the challenge that they each provided to one another. Despite the fact that they had probably been sparring for quite a while, neither seemed anxious to let up.

Finally, during one of Faith's turns to have the upper hand, she found herself with her arms wrapped around the smaller slayer. She had one arm across Buffy's left shoulder and the other under her right arm, with her hands clasped together over her chest. Faith could feel Buffy attempting to struggle and get back her control at first, but then she felt her struggles become weaker as the realization of their proximity must have sunk in.

Faith loosened her grip a bit when Buffy slowed her struggles, but she wasn't ready to let go just yet. Her body seemed to be set on autopilot because it wasn't listening to what her brain was telling it to do. Her brain knew that she should let go. She knew that she should put some distance between them, but her body just wouldn't listen. Instead of moving away, she pressed herself a little closer against Buffy's back, and leaned her head down towards the other slayer's neck. _God, she smells amazing_ , Faith thought to herself.

Before things could escalate any further, Faith heard the door open, snapping her back into reality. She quickly let go of Buffy and turned towards the wall to compose herself.

* * *

As Giles entered the training room, Buffy quickly stepped away from Faith the second she let go, and walked towards the opposite end of the mat. She took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself, and at the same time to make it seem like they had still been in the middle of a heated sparring match when Giles walked in.

 _What the hell is going on?_ Buffy thought to herself. This was the second time in less than 24 hours that Faith's touch rendered her body useless.

"Everything alright?" Giles asked as he looked first at Buffy and then at Faith. Buffy was sure he hadn't seen anything. They'd been quick enough at separating, but apparently he seemed to notice that something wasn't right.

Buffy was glad when Faith responded first. She wasn't quite sure she would be able to consciously form much thought right now, let alone words.

"Five by Five," she responded, in true Faith fashion, "just getting in a good sparring session."

This seemed to please the former librarian and erase his concern. "Excellent. Glad to see you're keeping each other on your toes."

 _Understatement of the year,_ Buffy thought, but didn't respond. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Faith's half smile, but she too didn't say a word.

Giles didn't seem to notice, or expect a response as he continued. "I believe we may have found the demons you encountered. Would you both please accompany me to the front so you can identify them?"

Both slayers nodded.

"Very well," Giles responded. "I'll leave you both to catch your breath and see you out there in a moment." With that said, he walked out of the training room leaving the two slayers alone once again.

Being left alone with Faith wasn't exactly the ideal situation for Buffy. Too many things were going through her brain at the moment, and she was having trouble sorting them out. The last thing she wanted to do was to face Faith and talk about whatever it was that happened between them a few minutes ago.

She wasn't even sure what happened, so how could she be expected to talk about it? One minute they were sparring and the next thing she knew, they were…spooning? Was that even the right word?

Buffy wasn't even sure how to describe it to herself. All she knew was that whatever it was, it felt good. And that scared the hell out of her.

Reliving the moment for a second, Buffy thought back on how good it felt having Faith hold her. She had felt like her body was on fire, tingles shooting through her like an electric wave. When Faith started to lean in towards her neck, she swore she could feel the taller slayer's lips without them ever touching her skin. It was intoxicating.

"You ok, B?"

When Buffy realized she'd been silently lost in a daydream, she looked over at Faith who was eyeing her cautiously. Buffy cleared her throat. "I'm fine."

In reality, she was anything but fine. She hoped that Faith would accept it though. They needed to focus on identifying the demons and finding a way to take out Glory.

Faith nodded her head, seeming to understand that this wasn't the time to analyze whatever was happening between them. She swung her head towards the door. "Let's go."

Buffy nodded in return and followed Faith back into the main room of the shop.


	8. Dancing

**Dancing**

It had been a week since the Scoobies had identified that the group of demons Buffy and Faith encountered were in fact minions who served Glory. They tried to go back to the area where they fought them to see if they could find anything that might help them learn more about Glory, but there was nothing to be found. Whatever those demons were distracting them from, they must have cleared it out long before they went back there.

Unfortunately, that put them right back at square one. They were no closer to learning how to defeat Glory than they were before finding out about those demons. The only saving grace was that Glory was still in hiding, likely recovering from Willow's spell, which gave them time to amp up their research.

It also gave Faith more time to try and figure out what she was going to do about her situation with Buffy. During the past week they'd barely spoken to one another and avoided being alone with each other. It wasn't the ideal situation for Faith, but she was trying to give Buffy space in hopes that she would be able to sort things out, and figure out exactly what it was she wanted from Faith.

Faith knew exactly what she wanted from Buffy though. On some level she'd always known, but she just hadn't been mature enough to realize it. She wanted to be with Buffy in every possible way that could mean. Faith had never felt that way about anyone before, but she knew that it was what she felt for Buffy.

In the past Faith had always just been about getting laid, and moving on to the next person. She never wanted to stick around long enough for anything else, not wanting to put her heart out there and allow herself to get hurt. It just hadn't been worth the risk.

Things were different with Buffy. She made Faith feel like it might be worth it to take a chance with her heart if it meant being able to be the person that Buffy could always count on. The person that would hold her at night, who would protect her at all costs, and who would be there in the morning to kiss her the moment she woke up. She wanted to be Buffy's everything.

It was getting harder and harder for Faith to stop herself from fantasizing about being that person to Buffy. Having a relationship with her fellow slayer never seemed like a possibility until recently. Even now, it was a long shot to hope that Buffy would allow herself to act on what she was clearly feeling, but Faith found herself hoping and daydreaming about it all week anyway.

She had resigned herself to the fact that she would let Buffy make the first move, but that was getting harder to do with no progress in sight. The radio silence was torture. Every time they had a group meeting, she hoped that Buffy, or even Giles, would suggest they patrol together, or spar, or do anything at all that would allow them to be alone together. Sadly, the opportunity never came. Even now, the gang was wrapping up their research for the night, ready to head home, as Giles dismissed everyone from their research duties.

"I think we all deserve a little break," Xander spoke up suddenly, distracting Faith from her thoughts. "It's been a rough few weeks and I think we could all benefit from letting loose a bit. Why don't we head to The Bronze for a while. We'll listen to some music, dance our faces off, and enjoy a little fun for a change."

As Faith looked around the room she saw mixed reactions to Xander's suggestion. Anya looked thrilled with a wide grin on her face, Tara and Willow looked at each other with somewhat indifference at first, but it was clear that the idea was growing on them, and Buffy's expression was unreadable.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass on that, Xander," Giles responded first. "My old bones are rather exhausted so I'm going to head home for the night. But the rest of you should go," he added to everyone's surprise. "You all deserve a night of fun for a change."

The whole group smiled in unison as if they'd just gotten permission from their father to have a party. It was refreshing to see that Giles appreciated all of their hard work and understood the need for a little play mixed in there to keep them all sane.

"Well I'm definitely in," Anya was the next to respond. "All research and no play makes Anya a very unpleasant person to be around."

"Exactly," Xander replied under his breath as if Anya had just voiced the reason for his suggestion.

"We're in too," Willow added with a child like smile. "It'll he nice to blow off some steam at our old hang out spot."

Faith was quick to respond right after Willow. "Hell, you know I'm in. You can always count me in for some dancing."

All eyes turned to Buffy, who's expression was still unreadable. The blonde slayer looked around at everyone in the room. When her eyes fell on Faith's last, she held her gaze for a little longer than the others.

Come on, B, Faith silently pleaded, let loose a little.

Faith knew that this could be the opportunity she was waiting for. If she could get Buffy away from the distractions of the whole situation with Glory, maybe she could get her to loosen the rains and talk about what was happening between them. However, Faith knew that fact was probably the reason for Buffy's hesitation in the first place. She was afraid of what she might do if she allowed herself to let loose around Faith.

"What do you think, Buff?" Xander asked, pulling Buffy's attention away from Faith and towards her eagerly awaiting friends.

It was clear that the excited faces of Buffy's friends were weakening her resolve as her expression softened. "To The Bronze," she finally responded.

The room erupted in excited cheers from everyone except for Giles who was simply smiling with admiration for his slayer.

This was Faith's chance. She was determined to find a way to get Buffy alone, to talk, at some point in the night. She just couldn't wait for Buffy to make the first move any longer. Glory would only stay away for so long and when she came back they would have to put their full focus on defeating her. There would be no room for anything else. This was her only chance.

* * *

"This is so much fun," Willow smiled as she sipped on her drink.

Buffy returned the smile and nodded her head as she watched the others out on the dance floor. Xander, Anya, Tara and Faith were out there in a circle shaking their hips like there was no tomorrow. Which for them was always a real possibility, especially lately. That last thought caused Buffy's smile to turn upside down.

"Everything ok, Buffy?" Willow asked, bringing Buffy's attention back to her best friend.

"I'm fine," Buffy responded with a forced smile. "I was just thinking, that's all."

Willow eyed her skeptically. "I don't only mean just now," Willow responded. "You've seemed a little…off lately. Like you have way too much on your mind or something." Willow's gaze was penetrating as if she was attempting to see into Buffy's soul.

Her best friend had always been good at reading Buffy's emotions. Willow hit the nail on the head. There was more going on in Buffy's mind these past few weeks than she could ever possibly sort out. There was an evil god, who was the most powerful opponent she'd ever faced after her and her friends, her mother was sick, her sister wasn't really her sister, and if that wasn't enough, there was also the situation with Faith. A situation that lately was managing to overpower the rest of the craziness going on in her mind. A situation that she wasn't ready to talk about yet.

"I guess it's hard not to seem off with everything that's been going on with Glory, Dawn and my mom," Buffy responded, choosing to leave Faith out of the mix. "I've been trying to hold it all together, but sometimes it's easier than others."

Willow nodded her understanding with compassionate eyes. "I know you have a lot going on right now, Buffy. No one expects you to keep it together all the time." She reached out her hand and placed it on Buffy's leg. "I just hope you know that you can always come to me if you ever need to talk things out, no matter what it's about."

Buffy eyed her best friend skeptically. It almost seemed like Willow was subtly trying to tell her something. As if she knew more about why Buffy had been acting strange lately than she was letting on. However, before she had a chance to try and find that out, the rest of the group rejoined them at their table.

"You two should really get out there with us," Faith motioned to Willow and Buffy. "It feels great to let loose and just let the melody of the music take over your body." Buffy didn't miss that the last part was directed towards her more specifically.

"She's right," Tara added. "You guys should join us out there after we catch our breath a little."

They all did seem a bit winded, except for Faith. Buffy knew all to well that the slayer stamina could keep you dancing all night long without a single break. It was one of the reasons Buffy hadn't ventured out onto the dance floor yet. She was afraid that if she started dancing with Faith, she would never want to stop.

She had been avoiding Faith all week for fear that something else might happen between them. After the few moments they shared the week before, she was worried that Pandora's Box had been opened and she wouldn't be able to close it. She no longer trusted her own body when it came to Faith, and she wasn't ready to even attempt to figure out what that meant.

Willow took another sip of her drink and smiled. "I'm in." She took Tara's hand and lead her girlfriend to the dance floor.

Buffy made no attempt to move from her seat until Xander fixed her with a pleading look. "Come on, Buff," Xander begged. "You don't want to be the only loser sitting here while the rest of us are on the dance floor now, do you?"

The stubborn slayer rolled her eyes. She knew it wasn't a good idea to bring anymore unnecessary attention to her current mood. Willow already seemed to know that something was going on with her that she wasn't willing to share, so she didn't need Xander becoming suspicious either. "We can't have that now, can we?" she responded as she got up from her seat.

"That's the spirit, B." Faith's wide grin was infectious. Buffy couldn't help but return the smile as she followed her friends to the dance floor.

* * *

When they reached the dance floor, Faith knew that Buffy was going to do everything in her power to dance as far away from her as possible. She picked up on that observation as soon as she saw Buffy practically place Xander and Anya right between herself and Faith.

That wasn't going to stop Faith from trying though. As the six of them let the music take over their bodies, Faith slowly made her way closer and closer to where Buffy was dancing. She couldn't help but stare at her fellow slayer. Her movements were precise as if she'd danced to that song a hundred times before. Watching Buffy dance was quite possibly the sexiest thing Faith had ever seen.

Buffy's eyes were closed, giving in to the beat of the music. That gave Faith the opportunity she needed to get closer to the blonde without her knowing. The rest of the group were too busy coupled up with one another to notice the close proximity of the two slayers, which only served as further encouragement for Faith to get closer.

Taking a risk, Faith lightly reached out her hand to take Buffy's as she continued to sway to the beat. She half expected Buffy to pull away, or simply walk off of the dance floor to avoid Faith's touch. Instead the smaller slayer closed her eyes tighter as if she knew exactly who's hand had taken her own, but she was too afraid to confirm it. She didn't pull away though, and her movements never faltered.

They continued to dance together, hands still loosely clasped, for a few more moments before Buffy finally allowed herself to open her eyes. Once she did, they immediately found Faith's. There was a questioning look in Buffy's eyes, but at the same time her glace was warm and surprisingly accepting. Buffy was clearly still struggling with her attraction to Faith, but it seemed like her resolve to fight it might be weakening.

As the song started to end, the two slayers slowly released their hands at the same time, but didn't break their eye contact right away. It wasn't until the next song started, a slow song, that their eyes drifted away from each other's. They looked over at their friends. Xander and Anya had instantly drifted into one another's arms as soon as the song tempo changed. Even Willow and Tara, not seeming to care at all what anyone else might think of two women slow dancing together, were now holding each other close, and slowly swaying to the soft beat.

Faith brought her gaze back to Buffy and smiled. It was a long shot, but Buffy had already surprised her a few times this week, so she figured it was worth a try. She reached out her hand towards Buffy, palm up, and asked, "May I have this dance?"

Buffy immediately looked panicked. Her eyes were darting from Faith's hand, to her eyes, to her friends dancing near them, and back to Faith's hand.

In an attempt to stop Buffy from having a full blown panic attached, Faith dropped her hand and walked a little closer to Buffy. Softly, so that only Buffy would be able to hear, she said, "It doesn't have to mean anything, B." Faith held her gaze in an attempt to make sure that Buffy knew she meant every word. "It's just a dance. The rest of our friends are all paired off. We can't let Willow and Tara be the only hot chicks out here dancing with each other."

That last statement had the desired affect that Faith was hoping for. Buffy visibly relaxed and laughed as she rolled her eyes. "You just can't stand it if all eyes are on someone else other than you, can you?" Buffy responded in a joking tone.

Faith shrugged her shoulders. "It just wouldn't be my style if I let them steal my dance floor lime light." She reached out her hand again and decided to try one more time. "So, what do yah say, B?"

Again, Buffy looked hesitant, but less panicked this time. After taking one last look around, likely to make sure the focus of her friends wasn't on them, Buffy placed her hand in Faith's and moved in a little closer.

Nothing in the world could wipe the huge smile from Faith's face at that moment. She too moved in closer to Buffy as they entangled their bodies, and started moving slowly to the beat. Holding Buffy in her arms felt amazing, and so right. Their bodies seemed to fit perfectly together as if they were built to be each other's counterpart.

Buffy seemed tense at first, but it didn't take long for her shoulders to relax and her legs to stop shaking. After a few moments, Faith even felt the other slayer lay her head on her shoulder. Buffy was clearly just as comfortable in Faith's arms as Faith felt in hers.

As the song started to wind down, Buffy lifted her head from Faith's shoulder and looked up into her eyes. There were so many different emotions Faith saw in Buffy's eyes that she wasn't able to decipher one from the next. All she could consciously think about was how badly she wanted to kiss the smaller slayer. Her eyes darted back and fourth between Buffy's eyes and her lips. As she started to lean in closer, the song ended, which seemed to snap Buffy out of whatever trance she might have been in.

Buffy slowly moved out of Faith's arms before the taller slayer could lean in all the way. She shook her head slowly with an apologetic look in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she softly spoke before walking away towards the exit of the club.

For a moment, all Faith could do was watch her walk away, a feeling of rejection weighing on her. Before she had a chance to do anything else, her friends approached with worried expressions.

"Is Buffy ok?" Tara asked as she, Willow, Xander and Anya walked up next to Faith.

Faith wasn't exactly sure how to answer that question. She couldn't very well tell them that Buffy walked out because she was freaking about Faith almost kissing her. The truth was, she didn't know if Buffy was ok or not, but she was determined to find out.

"I think she's just getting some fresh air," Faith answered. "I'll go out there and check on her." Before anyone could protest, or offer to go check on Buffy themselves, Faith quickly walked towards the club's exit.

* * *

The fresh air of wind felt good on Buffy's face the moment she got outside. Her heated skin began to cool as she took several deep breaths to try and calm her fractured mind.

 _What were you thinking?_ Buffy asked herself. _Why in the hell would you agree to slow dance with Faith?_

If Buffy hadn't been sure whether or not she could trust herself around Faith before, she was definitely sure of it now. She just couldn't understand it. Yes, she had felt a connection with Faith from the moment they first met, but she had never lost control before like she had several times within just a week. Why was she able to suppress her feelings before, but not now? Why did all of this have to be happening now?

Before she had a chance to analyze her thoughts any further, she heard someone approaching behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was. She could feel her slayer beacon tingling.

"I'm sorry too, B," Faith began. "I know that this isn't a good time for any of this, but I really think we need to talk about what's happening here."

Buffy closed her eyes and refused to turn towards Faith. She was afraid that if she looked into those sad, dark eyes, she would lose what little resolve she had left. "Faith," Buffy started, "I know it's not fair to you, but I can't do this right now. I can't talk about this. I can't even allow myself to think about this."

It was too much. There was just too much going on in Buffy's life. Whatever was going on with Faith was complicated at best. She couldn't handle complicated on top of everything else that was on her plate.

"I know," Faith responded. She sounded like she had moved closer to Buffy. It sounded, and felt like Faith was right behind her, close enough to touch her. "I know that you have a lot going on right now, and the last thing I want to do is make things even harder on you," Faith continued softly. Her voice sounded more sincere than Buffy could ever remember her sounding. "But you and I both know that whether or not you allow yourself to think about it, you're going to. We both will."

Buffy knew that Faith was right, but she couldn't bring herself to turn around, or respond in any way.

Apparently Faith took Buffy's silence as encouragement to continue. "We're both going to think about it, and it's going to distract us. Don't you think it's better to get it all out on the table now?"

Again, Buffy knew that Faith had a very good point. Thinking about her situation with Faith had already been a distraction to Buffy all week. She knew that she hadn't been as focused on researching Glory as she should have been. But would talking about their attraction to one another really fix the distraction, or would it make it worse?

The blonde slayer finally allowed herself to turn around and face Faith, ready to voice her skepticism of whether or not talking it out would really help. She knew that the taller slayer had been close to her, but she didn't realize just how close until she found herself merely inches away from Faith after turning around.

All thoughts of what she was about to say vanished as she found herself rendered speechless. Faith's eyes were drifting between Buffy's lips and her eyes just like she'd done on the dance floor right before she almost kissed her. This time she couldn't seem to force her body to move away.

Faith was maintaining her control, but to Buffy's surprise, she found herself reaching her arms around Faith's neck to pull her closer. Before she could allow her mind to talk herself out of it, Buffy surged forward for a bruising kiss.

Buffy felt Faith instantly kiss her back with just as much force. Her lips were incredibly soft as they moved against Buffy's, despite the dark slayer's hard exterior. The kiss didn't last long, but it was heated, and hungry. It felt incredible.

When the kiss ended, the two slayers rested their foreheads together for a moment while they caught their breath. Faith was the first to speak.

"What's going on here, B?" she asked softly. "What does this mean?"

As Buffy pulled away slowly, she once again allowed her brain to take control. When the realization of what she just did kicked in, a wave of panic hit her hard. The truth was, she had no idea how to answer Faith's questions.

Buffy began to move away a little quicker as she shook her head. "I'm sorry," she answered. "I have to go."

"Please don't do this, Buffy," Faith responded. She made no move to follow the retreating slayer, but her words were pleading. "Please don't run away from this."

The only response that Buffy could muster was another, "I'm sorry," just before she rounded the corner away from Faith.


	9. Talking It Out

**Talking It Out**

"Hey Buffy," Willow greeting with a smile when Buffy opened the door. She had been sitting in the living room with her mom and sister watching TV when they heard a knock at the door.

"Willow," Buffy greeted skeptically. "What are you doing here? Is everything ok?" It wasn't like Willow to drop by unannounced. Not that Buffy minded the company, but her best friend usually called first.

"Oh, everything is fine," Willow responded reassuringly. "I didn't mean to alarm you. I was just hoping that you and I could talk. We haven't had a chance to just talk lately with everything that's been going on. I thought it might be nice to get back some normalcy that we've been missing out on."

Buffy instantly knew that there was an ulterior motive for Willow's visit. She wasn't there to 'just talk.' If she wanted to talk, she most likely already had a subject in mind. Subtlety had never been Willow's strong suite.

"Sure," Buffy responded. "Let's go to my room."

The two women walked upstairs to Buffy's room in silence. Buffy would be lying if she tried to tell herself that she wasn't just a little worried about what Willow might want to talk about. She had already suspected the night before that her best friend knew something was going on. She wasn't sure if Willow knew that it had anything to do with Faith, but there was a good chance she did. Thinking back on the night before, Buffy clearly remembered she and Faith very openly dancing extremely close to each other. There was a strong chance that Willow, and the rest of her friends saw.

At the time, Buffy hadn't thought about who might see her slow dancing with Faith. At the time, she wasn't really thinking at all. She had no idea why she agreed to dance with Faith. She had been doing such a good job avoiding Faith all week, but that charming smile, and those penetrating eyes were too much to resist last night. The way that Faith looked at her had a way of melting her resolve within moments.

When the two friends reached their destination, Buffy decided to play along with Willow's game, instead of jumping right to the point, in hopes that maybe she was wrong about her best friend's intentions. "So," Buffy started, "What do you wanna talk about?"

Willow hesitated at first, likely debating whether or not to jump right into what she wanted to talk about, or skirt around it. She seemed to settle on the latter.

"Mostly I just wanted to see how you're doing. I know you've been going through a lot lately. We all have, but more so with you because of your mom, Dawn, and Riley leaving. I just want to make sure you're ok."

Wow. Suddenly Buffy felt like a terrible person. Not once in the past few weeks had she even thought about Riley. She would like to tell herself that the reason was because there were just too many other things going on in her life. She would have liked to believe that there was just no room in her frantic mind to greave over the lose of her relationship, but she knew that wasn't true. Buffy knew that the real reason she hadn't thought about Riley was because she was never truly in love with him.

No matter how hard she tried, she was never able to find that spark with Riley. She had been attracted to him, and she liked him as a person. In almost every way, Riley was the perfect boyfriend. He was kind and supportive. He always knew the right thing to say and he was there for her no matter what, at least until the end of their relationship. But it was just never enough for her. Buffy knew that the real reason she hadn't thought about losing Riley was because deep down she knew there hadn't been anything there to lose.

"I'm fine," Buffy responded emotionlessly without further explanation. She knew that Willow wouldn't accept that answer, but she had to give it a shot.

Willow searched her best friend's eyes. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You left The Bronze pretty quickly last night without saying goodbye to any of us. We were worried."

There it was. That was Willow's transition into what she really wanted to talk about. She must have noticed that something was wrong with Buffy last night, but it was still unclear if she knew whether or not it had anything to do with Faith.

When Buffy didn't respond right away, Willow continued. "Faith told us she was going outside to check on you, but when she came back in, all she told us was that you had gone home and that she was calling it a night too."

Buffy dropped her eyes to her hands that were folded in her lap on the bed. She felt bad for worrying her friends, but at the time she was just too overwhelmed about kissing Faith. She couldn't believe what she had done, and all thoughts of anything else were lost. Buffy was glad that Faith at least told her friends that Buffy went home so that they wouldn't worry about her safety.

"I'm sorry I left without telling you guys," Buffy responded. She tried to think of what else she could say, but she couldn't think of anything that wouldn't give away what happened between her and Faith, and she still wasn't sure she was ready to talk about it yet.

However, Buffy quickly realized that Willow wasn't going to give her that option. The red head waited for a moment, but when Buffy didn't elaborate further, Willow seemed to lose her resolve to ease into the conversation.

"Buffy, please tell me what's going on," Willow finally blurted out. "I know that you have a lot going on in your life right now, but I also know that what's been bothering you lately is something else."

Willow once again paused. Her pleading eyes indicated she was hoping that Buffy would chime in and talk to her, but the slayer was still frozen. She tried not to meet Willow's gaze, knowing it would weaken her resolve.

"Does this have anything to do with Faith?" Willow finally asked.

This caused Buffy's eyes to shoot up towards Willow. _She knows._ She still couldn't bring herself to speak, but she knew that her reaction to Willow's words answered for her.

Willow's wide smile eased some of Buffy's panic. "It's ok, Buffy," Willow continued. "I'm your best friend. You know that you can talk to me about anything."

Buffy's head dropped again as she finally found her voice, but all she was able to get out was a soft, "I know."

With determination in her eyes, Willow didn't take long to respond. She was clearly done attempting to wait for Buffy to join the conversation.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but I really think you need to." Willow paused for a moment. "I can tell that there's something going on between you and Faith. I've seen how the two of you have been acting around each other. It reminds me a little bit of how Tara and I acted with each other before we started dating."

Once again, Buffy's eyes shot up to Willow's. Her defenses were starting to rise as she was about to protest that her situation with Faith wasn't anything like Willow's relationship with Tara. But before she could do that, her best friend's comforting eyes stopped her. _Maybe Willow is right. Maybe I do need to talk it out._

Throwing caution to the wind, Buffy jumped right into the deep end. "I kissed her last night."

Willow stared back at her with wide eyes. She clearly hadn't been expecting Buffy to drop that bomb, especially after avoiding the conversation for so long. Now it seemed to be Willow's turn to be speechless.

"I don't understand any of it," Buffy continued, now allowing her words to flow freely. "I've never been attracted to a woman before, and this is Faith of all people, which makes it even crazier." Buffy threw her arms up in frustration as her last words got out.

Shock seemingly forgotten now, Willow quickly responded reassuringly. "I had never been attracted to a woman either before I met Tara. Sometimes it's not about the gender, it's about the person."

Buffy slowly nodded her head. "I know, but why Faith?" she responded. "Why does she have to be the person that I'm attracted to? After everything she's put me through in the past, how is it even possible that I could have any semblance of romantic feelings for her?"

Willow simply smiled at first, before continuing. "There's always been a connection between the two of you. I noticed it even back then before everything that happened. That kind of connection doesn't just go away."

Buffy was surprised that Willow noticed even back then that there was something between her and Faith. She barely realized it herself, so how is it that her best friend knew about it?

When Buffy didn't respond, Willow continued. "She feels the same way, you know." At Buffy's questioning look, Willow elaborated. "I can tell. She's even more obvious than you are."

She knew that Willow was right. It was clear as day that Faith was attracted to her. She made little attempts to hide it. That scared her even more.

Feeling helpless, Buffy put her head in her hands as she rested her elbows on her knees. "I don't know what to do, Willow," she responded. "I don't know how to handle this."

"It's not rocket science, Buffy," her best friend replied. "What do you want?"

The question sounded so simple, but it wasn't an easy one to answer. Buffy stared at the wall hoping to find an answer somewhere in the layers of paint.

Willow seemed to realize she needed to take a different approach. "When you kissed her," she started, "How did it feel?"

Thinking back on the night before, Buffy couldn't fight the small smile that appeared on her face. The kiss was incredible. Faith's soft lips fit perfectly with her own. She could clearly remember every detail, every tingle she felt, and how much she wanted more. Lost in her own thoughts, she almost missed what Willow said next.

"How did it feel when you danced with her?"

Buffy's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "You saw that, huh?"

"It was hard to miss," Willow responded with a smile. "You both looked so comfortable together, like you belonged in each other's arms."

Buffy smiled as she thought back on her dance with Faith. She could clearly remember how incredible Faiths body felt against hers. "That's exactly how it felt," she responded.

Willow smiled in return. "I think that's your answer, Buffy. You clearly enjoyed slow dancing with Faith, and by the dreamy look I saw on your face when I asked you how if felt to kiss her, you enjoyed that too."

The blush instantly heated up Buffy's face again at being caught daydreaming about kissing Faith.

"I know you're scared," Willow continued, "But I think you owe it to yourself, and to Faith to see where this might go."

Buffy knew that Willow was right, but that didn't make her any less terrified. It wasn't just that Faith was a woman and Buffy had zero experience being with a woman. It was also that Faith was Faith. Would they really be able to put aside all of the history, all of the pain, all of the wounds, both emotional and physical, that were left behind from their sorted past? Would they really be able to forget about all of that and attempt to have a relationship?

Seeming to sense Buffy's inner turmoil, Willow continued. "At least try talking to her." Buffy looked up at Willow giving her full attention to the red head. "Find out how she feels and where she is with all of this, and take it from there. One step at a time."

Talking to Faith about how she felt about her wouldn't be easy, but Willow was right, it needed to be done. It was clear that Faith was attracted to Buffy, but maybe that's all it was. Maybe it was only a physical thing, and Faith wouldn't want anything but a roll in the sack from Buffy. That would fit her usual MO. The only way to find out was to talk to her about it.

Nodding her head as she looked up at her friend, Buffy finally responded. "You're right. I do need to talk to her." The question of when was still up in the air, but Buffy wasn't about to add that part. She was resolved in her decision to talk to Faith about what was going on between them, but the 'when' part would only be decided when Buffy could actually find some courage.

Willow's bright smile seemed to indicate that she was satisfied enough with Buffy's answer.

"Thank you, Willow," Buffy added. "Thank you for making me talk this out. I didn't want to, but I'm glad I did. I needed this."

"You're welcome, Buffy," Willow replied as her smile grew even bigger. "You know I'm always here for you, no matter what it is that you need."

Buffy returned Willow's smile. "I know. You're a good friend, Wil. The best a girl could have."

* * *

The chain holding the punching bag rattled as Faith hit it harder. A thin layer of sweat covered her face and arms as she assaulted the bag, never letting up on it for even a second. She wasn't sure how long she'd been working out her frustrations on the bag, but she was so deep into her movements, that she almost didn't notice someone approach her to the right.

Faith stopped the bag from swinging as she attempted to catch her breath. With an irritated look in her eyes, she turned to glare at whoever was responsible for interrupting her workout. She knew it wasn't the one person she hoped it would be, because she didn't feel the slayer tingle, so whoever it was, she had no patience for right now.

When her eyes met the intruder, they couldn't help but instantly soften. Now flooded with guilt as she saw the nervous look on Tara's face, Faith attempted to relax her body and fall into a less threatening stance.

"I'm sorry," Tara started. "I d-didn't mean to interrupt your workout."

"It's no problem," Faith responded with a reassuring smile. "Everything ok?" she asked. It wasn't like Tara, or any of them for that matter, to come into the training room when one, or both of the slayers were working out unless something was up.

Tara's nerves seemed to calm down at Faith's softened expression. "Everything is fine. I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Faith hadn't been expecting that. She wasn't used to anyone worrying about her. She had been in a foul mood since the night before, but she didn't think that anyone noticed. After Buffy shut down and walked away last night, Faith found herself in need of frustration venting. There were two ways that she knew how to do that, and if she wanted to have any possible chance of a future with Buffy, she knew she couldn't turn to one of those methods. Choosing the second option lead her to the training room of The Magic Box. Hitting something always seemed to help.

"I'm fine," Faith lied.

She must not have been convincing enough because Tara's expression was weary. "You don't have to play the tough girl with me, you know?" Tara responded, surprising Faith.

The slayer's eyebrows rose up. It wasn't like Tara to be so forward. From the moment Faith met her, Tara had always been extremely shy. They had gotten closer the more they got to know each other, and Tara did help her out with Buffy's birthday, but she was still always very passive. Impressed with Tara's boldness, Faith decided to let down her walls a little. "Saw through that, huh?"

"You're not as hard to read as you might think you are," Tara responded. Her eyes instantly fell to the ground as if her shyness was kicking back in after her bold statement.

"It's ok, T," Faith replied reassuringly. "I appreciate the honesty."

Tara pulled her eyes back up to Faith's. She hesitated at first, but then seemed to find her comfort level again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Faith sighed. Talking things out wasn't her style. She had always dealt with her issues by fighting them out, or screwing them out. Talking it out never seemed like an effective option. But before Faith opened her mouth to decline Tara's offer, she took a second to think about it. _Maybe it's time for a change._

The thing that Faith wanted most in the world was redemption for what she'd done in the past. She wanted to show everyone that she'd changed. She wanted to prove that she wasn't that selfish person anymore who would shut herself down when things got tough. Not talking things out with Tara when she was offering her friendship wasn't a good way to prove to herself, or anyone else, that she'd changed.

Going against her usual inclination to shut people out wouldn't be easy, but it was worth a try. Easing in slowly, Faith decided to start by trying to figure out exactly what Tara might know already. "And what exactly is it that you think I need to talk about?"

"Buffy," Tara answered, getting right to the point.

Faith was once again taken aback by Tara's boldness. She clearly wasn't going to ease into the conversation like Faith was hoping.

"You sure know how to get straight to the point, don't you?" Faith responded.

"Sorry," Tara replied with slightly reddened cheeks. "It's just that I get the feeling you're not used to talking issues out with a friend. I guess I thought if I jumped right in, it would give you no chance to try and sneak out of it."

A quick laugh escaped Faith before she responded. "You're pretty smart, T."

Tara smiled in return. However, it didn't take her long to get right back to the point. "Listen, Faith," she started, "I can tell that you have feelings for Buffy. It's clear in the way that you look at her, and the way that you act around her."

Allowing some of her old tendencies to creep back up, Faith replied, "What can I say? She's hot as hell. Who wouldn't be attracted to her?"

Tara simply rolled her eyes. "It's more than that, and you know it."

As Tara stared her down, Faith tried not to look away. She thought about trying to deny it, but she could see in Tara's penetrating eyes that no excuse Faith might throw her way would be accepted. There was no point in trying to hide it. Apparently the shy, reserved Tara was taking the day off, because this new Tara was forceful and unaccepting of any bull shit.

"Ok, you got me," Faith finally responded. Tara continued to stare her down as if she was still waiting for a different answer. Faith rolled her eyes. "You're right," Faith added after a moment. "I have a thing for B, ok? Happy now?"

A triumphant smile spread across Tara's face. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Allowing some seriousness into their light hearted conversation, Faith responded softly, "For me, it actually is."

Tara's demeanor changed as well. "It doesn't have to be," she replied with sincerity. "You don't have to keep everything bottled up, only able to vent your frustrations on a punching bag. You have friends that you can talk to who are here for you."

Faith wasn't sure how to respond to that. She'd never had friends like that before. She never had anyone who was there for her no matter what. For a short time, she did have her watcher, but that didn't last long. Her family had never been there for her either, so she didn't know what it was like to have people in her life who had her back. It was such a new feeling that it made her a little uncomfortable.

Seeming to sense Faith's unease, Tara turned the attention back to their original subject. "So what are going to do?"

Faith didn't need to ask what Tara was referring to. She knew that she was asking about Buffy. The problem was that Faith didn't really have an answer for her. She had no idea how to handle her situation with Buffy. So, she decided to answer honestly.

"I don't have a fucking clue," Faith answered in a defeated tone. She searched Tara's eyes, hoping to find the answer somewhere in them.

Compassion was flowing from Tara as Faith awaited her response. "Why don't you try talking to her? She clearly feels something for you too. We all saw the way the two of you were dancing last night."

 _Ah, so they did see_ , Faith thought to herself. She had a feeling they probably saw them dancing together. Faith could care less who saw them, but she knew that it probably wouldn't sit well with Buffy.

"I tried," Faith responded. She decided not to comment on the fact that Buffy's friends had seen them dance together, or about anything else that happened between them, for fear that Buffy wouldn't want her to. "When I went outside to check on her, I tried to talk to her about what's going on between us, but she just said that she had to go, and then she took off."

Tara's eyebrows pulled together, deep in thought. "Maybe she just needs some time to process everything."

Faith shrugged her shoulders. She knew that Tara was probably right. At least she hoped that was all it was, but she couldn't help letting some of her insecurities in. "Maybe."

"It can be really hard on a woman who has always been attracted to men suddenly finding themselves being attracted to a woman," Tara replied. "I'm sure you can relate to that."

A mischievous grin spread across Faith's face. "Gender has never been an issue for me." She wiggled her eyebrows to emphasize her point. "It's never mattered to me if the person I'm attracted to is a him or a her."

"Well you're lucky then," Tara responded with a smile. "It isn't always that easy for people to be so comfortable in their own skin."

For Faith it wasn't necessarily that she was comfortable in her own skin, it was more that she couldn't care less what other people thought, at least most of the time. She decided not to get into the semantics of it though.

Sighing, Faith nodded her head. "I can give her time, if that's what she needs." She paused for a moment before adding, "I just hope it doesn't take her too long. The life expectancy of us slayers isn't exactly till we're old and gray, ya know?"

With a spark in her eyes, Tara smiled. "I don't think it will take as long as you think."

"What makes you so sure?" Faith asked skeptically.

"I've seen the way she's looked at you lately. When you first got here, she clearly wasn't happy."

Faith scoffed. "That's an understatement."

"Ok, she was extremely unhappy about you being here," Tara corrected. "But the past few weeks have been different." Faith listened intently. "In the past few weeks I've seen that unease and distrust melt away, replaced by acceptance and desire."

The ever confident and cocky Faith allowed a small blush to appear at Tara's last word. She rubbed the back of her neck. "You really see desire? For me?"

It wasn't like Faith to be so insecure, but she couldn't help it. When it came to Buffy everything was different. She wanted so badly for this to go right. She wanted Buffy.

"Definitely," Tara answered without hesitation.

It was hard to try to refute Tara's confidence. She was usually so quiet and timid, so if she was sure enough about Buffy to voice her opinion so emphatically, then maybe there was hope after all. Buffy did kiss her. That had to mean something.

Faith nodded her head. "Thanks, T. I appreciate the pep talk."

Tara smiled. "Anytime."


End file.
